Egypt’s atomic plant
U.S.-based Bechtel Power Corp is leading a shortlist of firms and consortia bidding to design Egypt’s first nuclear power station, an official at the ministry of electricity said. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the other firms on the shortlist included Australia’s WorleyParsons, Sweden’s AF Consult, a consortium of Spain’s Iberdrola and Empresarios Agrupados, a consortium of Finland’s Poyry and Invap of Argentina, a consortium including Belgian Tractebel, and a group of US companies with Egypt’s Excel. The official said the companies were awarded numerical scores based on a number of factors including experience and number of operating projects, adding that the value of their offers ranged from $25 million to $150 million. In October 2007 Egypt said it would build several civilian nuclear power stations to meet its growing energy needs. It ratified the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1981 but said last year it would not sign on to an additional protocol that would give the UN nuclear watchdog the right to make intrusive short-notice inspections of nuclear facilities. Egypt has nuclear cooperation offers from China, Russia, France and Kazakhstan.
Alcatel-Lucent CEO
Last week Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif received Ben Verwaayen, Alcatel-Lucent Executive, to probe the company future investments in Egypt as well extend the company’s partnership with the Egyptian government in the fields of telecommunications and information technology (IT) by further mounting its local investments. Ben Verwaayen said that Egypt had always played a central role for the company’s business in the Middle East and Africa, and that their Cairo office had a pool of young and talented engineers. “This region has lots of potential and we are committed to keep on working very closely with our customer here, in order to build an unparalleled success story,” he added.
On grain
The 13th round of the Egyptian French seminar on grains was recently held in Cairo, and was attended by 250 Egyptian, Libyan and Sudanese professionals. France’s Ambassador to Cairo Jean Felix opened the seminar together with Fadia Nosseir, head of the International Relations department of the Agriculture Ministry on behalf of the minister himself Amin Abaza. The French producers said that France harvests 37 million tons of wheat, of which it exports eight to ten million tons outside the European Union. Egypt imported 325,000 tons of French wheat during the last year. Modern technologies related to grain handling and mills were among the topics presented.
Equipping hotels
Nineteen Egyptian manufacturers are taking part in the Equipe Hotel show in Paris, which began yesterday and runs till next Wednesday. The exhibition showcases the latest in hotel furniture and is seen as an opportunity for Egyptian manufacturers to acquaint themselves with new technology in the field and to introduce themselves to global clients.
Crocodile caught
Hunters of the Environment and Agriculture Ministries managed to catch a crocodile that had been spotted by fishermen in Hammam canal some 80km southwest of Alexandria six days earlier. Environment Minister Maged George said the crocodile will be handed over to Giza Zoo, and an investigation will be conducted to find out how he got to Hammam which is not at all a crocodile habitat; crocodiles are only found in Lake Nasser in Aswan. A spokesman for the Giza Zoo said the one-year old, 2.1m long crocodile would be placed on quarantine for three weeks then would join other crocodiles in the zoo.
WATANI International
16 November 2008