French Development Agency signs €70mn Egypt Loan for Home Gas Delivery
Egypt and the French Development Agency (AFD) have signed a €70 million loan agreement for a project aimed to expand natural gas access to 1.5 million Egyptian households in eleven governorates nationwide.
On behalf of the Minister of Petroleum, the First Undersecretary for Gas Affairs at Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry, Sherif Sousa has signed the agreement with AFD.
Egypt will be given a five-year grace period and the loan shall be paid back over 15 years.
The signing of the agreement was attended by Gamal Negm – the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), Stephanie Lanfranchi, Director of the AFD’s office in Cairo, and André Parant, France’s Ambassador in Cairo, and Khaled Abdel Badee, Chairman of state-run Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), in addition to key official figures from the CBE.
The Egypt Household Natural Gas Connection Project will support the Egyptian government’s program to replace household consumption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), which is mostly imported, with grid-connected natural gas.
The project is set to expand natural gas access to 1.5 million Egyptian households during the period 2014 – 2017. The project is partially funded by the World Bank Group (US$500 million loan), the French Development Agency (€70 million loan), and the European Union (€68 million grant). It Project will be implemented by the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and its affiliates Town Gas and Egypt Gas.
