CAIRO — Egypt’s Electricity Ministry says it has dropped U.S. construction giant Bechtel as a consultant for the country’s first nuclear reactor.
The state-run news agency quoted a ministry statement Sunday as saying it has chosen Australia’s WorleyParsons for the 10-year consultancy.
In December the ministry said it had picked Bechtel for the $181 million US project. It did not give details but local reports suggest that the deal stalled over terms of operation.
President Hosni Mubarak has announced plans for the nuclear power project to diversify Egypt’s energy resources and preserve the country’s oil and gas.
The entire project is expected to cost between $1.5 billion and $1.8 billion.