Egypt approves industrial coal-fired generation

• 10 years ago (2014-04-04)
• Junior Isles

Middle East 326 North America 1021

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Egypt's cabinet has this week approved the use of coal for industrial power generation, concluding a national debate over whether the energy-intensive cement industry should be allowed to use the most polluting fuel source.

With growing public unrest over blackouts, the Egyptian government recently cut natural gas supplies to cement factories, leading cement companies to demand the use of other fuel sources.

Lafarge and Suez Cement have said that they are operating at half capacity since the gas cuts began in January.

The decision to allow industrial coal use was taken by the cabinet and no approval from the interim president was required since it was not considered a new law, according to Government spokesman Hani Salah.

Many environmental campaigners say the industrial use of coal for energy would be catastrophic for Egypt, which already suffers from some of the worst pollution levels in the world.

Mr Salah also said that "most environmental studies" had already been conducted and estimated it would "not be very long" before plants would be transitioned to using coal.

Suez Cement CEO Bruno Carre has said that one of the company's four plants could be coal-ready as soon as September.