Saudi Arabia says plans to connect electricity lines with Egypt are moving forward as part of efforts to ease chronic power shortages in Cairo and other cities.
The project, estimated at $2.2 billion, seeks to make Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies a key electricity exporter to Egypt and eventually across North Africa. The plans have been on the drawing board for years, but they were put on hold because of the Arab Spring uprisings.
The official Saudi News Agency reported Friday that discussions on the project have been concluded. An official signing ceremony is planned for Saturday.
Construction of the power lines is expected to take at least three years.
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Source: Associated Press – May 31, 2013.
The Saudis are one of the biggest polluters in the World. they have massive desalination plants, they burn tons of excess gas to generate electricity to light and cool every tent in the massive Kingdom. When Ethiopia tries to generate clean energy and sell it to the Egyptians at ‘ cut rate price’ they raise the ante by coming up with this scheme. They want us to be destitute and miserable and they hate any reapprochment vis a vis the Nile. I am sure some of the disturbance in Cairo is in line with what their ‘ Minster’ blabbered the last time around before he was ‘ demoted’ of sort.