ENERGY-

#1- Interest in north coast solar plants: More than six consortiums have expressed interest in the tender for five solar power plants up for grabs on the north coast, Ash arq Busin ess reports, citing a government official. Bidders for the plants include Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power, Norwegian renewables producer Scatec, Japan’s Toyota, France’s Engie, Al Nowais subsidiary AMEA Power, and British renewables investment company Aquila, according to the news outlet. The consortiums have until 27 September to submit their offers to the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company.

The five concentrated solar power plants will power water desalination plants on the Mediterranean coast . The plants are expected to require a combined USD 270 mn worth of investment and will be built under a 25-year build-own-operate contract. They will have a combined capacity of 250 MW and will help desalinate over 400k cubic meters of water per day.

#2- Our new council for green hydrogen gets ratified: Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly has issued a decision to set up the council for green hydrogen that was approved by the cabinet late last month. The council is tasked with overseeing the implementation of the government’s green hydrogen strategy. The body will formally be called the National Council for Green Hydrogen and Its Derivatives and will be headed by the PM and featurekey cabinet ministers as well as the heads of the Suez Canal Economic Zone, the General Authority for Investment (GAFI) and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt.

Remember: We still haven’t seen the government’s long-awaited green hydrogen strategy. Cabinet published a list of draft tax incentives in May but we are yet to see the full strategy.

COMMODITIES-

Gov’t falls short of local wheat procurement targets -Asharq: The government procured around 3.4 mn tons of wheat from local farmers during this year’s harvest, down 10% from last year, As harq Busine ss reports, citing government documents it says it has seen. This is lower than the 4 mn-ton target originally set for the 2023 season, which wrapped up in August. The government had hiked prices to EGP 1.5k per ardeb in a bid to increase production and reduce reliance on imported wheat.

Farmers went private: Some wheat farmers sold their harvest to private-sector players, who were offering EGP 1.7k per ardeb, a number of farmers told Asharq. Others have been storing their wheat or using it as livestock feed amid a shortage of corn and other expensive grains,

Fewer crops planted: This year’s season saw some 3.2 mn feddans planted with wheat, down from last year’s 3.65 mn acres, as farmers shift their focus to feed, one government official told the news outlet. Egypt currently has some 4.7 months of wheat in reserve.

FINTECH-

Yalla gears up for Saudi launch: PaySky’s Yalla fintech platform has signed agreements with Saudi’s Alinma Bank, Digital Pay, and a number of financial institutions in preparation to launch its platform in Saudi Arabia later in 2023, the company said Thursday in a press release (pdf). The agreements, announced at an industry conference in Riyadh, will make Yalla’s wide range of electronic payment solutions, including Yalla Super App and Yalla Business, accessible to Saudi individuals and businesses.

What they said: Yalla founder and CEO Waleed Sadek called the entry into Saudi Arabia a “pivotal milestone” for the company, and said it aims to attract 1 mn users there within the first year. The Yalla super app has 2 mn users in Egypt and has been used to process more than 7 mn transactions.

INVESTMENT-

Four projects get their golden licenses: The 500-MW wind farm in Ras Ghareb, Gennvax’s USD 150 mn vaccine factory, Midea Group’s USD 105 mn home appliance factory in Sadat; and BLM & Africa’s EGP 885 mn medical dressings factory formally received their golden licenses at a ceremony on Friday, according to a cabinet statement. The government had p reviously announced that all four projects would receive the single approval licenses, which speed up bureaucratics procedures for priority projects.

TOURISM-

Flydubai to launch daily Dubai-Cairo flight: Dubai-based airline Flydubai will begin daily flights to Cairo’s Sphinx International Airport on 28 October to cater for increasing demand, UAE state news agency WAM reports.

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