Saudis to launch Egypt-Saudi interconnection tender in June: The Saudi government will issue in June a new tender for its power transmission lines that will be part of the now USD 2.5 bn Egypt-Saudi interconnection project, sources told the local press. The project, which had been put on hold, was initially estimated to cost USD 1.6 bn, but the kingdom had to revisit its plans for the lines to avoid conflict with its USD 500 bn Neom city mega project. This caused the cost estimates to shoot upward to USD 2.5 bn, and necessitated a new tender.

Egypt, meanwhile, has completed its power line tenders and is waiting on the new route to begin construction, the sources noted. Authorities from both sides agreed to finalize preparations in December and begin construction by no later than 1Q2020. Alstom, ABB, and Siemens have all applied for Egypt’s tender, but the results are yet to be made public.

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