Egypt and Russia have taken a financial step forward in development of a four-reactor nuclear power plant in Dabaa, Egypt, announcing that Russia had granted Egypt a $25 billion loan that is to cover 85 percent of the construction cost of the advanced facility.
The funding will go towards construction over a period of 13 years “between 2016 and 2028” it was announced. After that, “the Egyptian side will repay loan amounts used over 22 years in 43 installments,” according to various reports.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi announced the loan agreement in an official decree. The payback is to begin in 2029 at an annual interest rate of 3 percent.
The decree marks a turning point in Russian-Egyptian relations. In February 2015, Egypt and Russia announced an agreement to construct the four-reactor plant, but the October 2015 crash of a Russian passenger plane in Sinai severely impacted the relationship between the two countries. The decree is the result of an improved dialogue between the two sides.
Plans call four a four-reactor power plant on the Mediterranean coast with each unit having the capacity of 1200MW.