Egypt advances roughly US$2.68 billion coastal desalination tender pipeline

Egypt’s finance ministry is pushing forward a pipeline of desalination projects worth roughly US2.68 billion, a tender process spanning four coastal plants. Together the four account for about 87 percent of a broader US3.08 billion water and electricity infrastructure programme that the ministry is structuring as public-private partnerships (PPPs). The four desalination projects are: a seawater plant at Suez, valued at approximately US1 billion; a facility at Port Said, worth roughly US800 million; a smaller plant at Alamein on the Mediterranean coast, valued at about US170 million; and a project at Ain Sokhna within the Suez Canal Economic Zone, worth approximately US710 million. The Suez and Port Said projects are currently out to tender, while the Alamein and Ain Sokhna plants have reached their final tendering stages.

Alongside the four desalination plants, the package also includes four industrial wastewater treatment plants, a sludge treatment facility, a water recycling plant, and five electricity distribution projects across various cities. Bundling “water supply — wastewater collection — reuse — power supply” into a single combined investment reflects a shift in Egypt’s water-resource planning: instead of treating water intake as a standalone issue, it now places desalinated capacity, wastewater treatment and reuse, and the supporting power supply under one common financing and construction framework. That matters because seawater desalination is energy-intensive; power cost and supply reliability directly determine the price of water and the reliability of operations.

On the longer-term target, Egyptian officials have said the country aims to raise national daily desalination capacity from about 1 million cubic metres in 2023 to 8.85 million cubic metres by 2050 — close to a ninefold increase — requiring an estimated US$8.5 billion in cumulative investment. Behind that ambition lies Egypt’s heavy dependence on the Nile, from which the vast majority of the country’s freshwater is drawn. Upstream dam projects, population growth and climate variability are putting pressure on the river’s flow, pushing the government toward desalination and treated-wastewater reuse as the two main levers for diversifying supply.

It is also worth noting that earlier this year the Egyptian government announced it would transfer operation and maintenance responsibilities for a number of existing desalination plants — including several facilities along the northwestern coast — to private-sector specialists, in an effort to bring in international technical standards and operating efficiency. This US$2.68 billion tender round extends private-sector participation from “operations” into “new-build,” inviting international contractors and financiers to take on construction and, under most PPP structures, long-term operating risk. With two projects already out to tender and the other two in their final round, the coming months should bring clearer timelines on contract awards, financing structures and technology partners.