Bechtel Corporation secures engineering consultant contract for Egyptalum's 7th production line

The largest aluminium producer in Egypt and one of the largest in Africa, Egyptalum, has assigned the US-based company Bechtel an engineering consultant contract for the former's seventh production line project.

The main purpose of the project is to increase Egyptalum's production of aluminium, with Bechtel being highly qualified in managing aluminium smelters projects.

An official of Egyptalum said: “Based on the selection, the company will start implementing the project before the end of 2020. In a two-stage process, Egyptalum aims to increase its production of primary aluminium by 250,000 tonnes per year using modern technology.”

Egyptalum said that a session in which the technical bids were opened was held according to the date set for the public tender that had previously been announced.

Egyptalum, a subsidiary of the Metallurgical Industries Holding Company, which itself falls under the Ministry of Public Enterprises Sector's umbrella has reported losses of about EGP 994m in FY 2019/20, compared to a profit of about EGP 571m in FY 2018/19.

The Aluminium Company’s loss has been accounted towards the decrease in global metal prices, and the lower US dollar exchange, along with the rise in electricity prices.

However, on 18^th October’20, in a statement, the company added: “The losses have also been caused by the weak return on investments, as well as the novel coronavirus pandemic. These have both negatively affected the company's exports.”

“Egyptalum achieved revenues of EGP 7.2bn in FY 2019/20, compared to EGP 12.1bn in FY 2018/19.”