Egypt's first private-sector electricity station began operations in Alexandria on Wednesday, Cairo-based private equity firm Citadel Capital announced in a statement to the local stock exchange.

The new electricity station, which will provide energy to the state-owned Egyptian Styrenics Production Company (ESPC), will have a production capacity of 11 megavolts and will be fuelled by natural gas.

Taqa Arabia (TA), the company which owns the electricity station, is 33.8 per cent owned by Citadel Capital.

TA acquired a build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract to build the $400 million station, and secured a 20-year sales contract with ESPC to produce polystyrene, one of the most widely used types of plastic.

On Wednesday, shares of Citadel Capital closed at LE3.85 each on the Egyptian Stock Exchange.