A Chinese firm to supply 1300 railcars to Egypt

China’s CRR Company has ranked first in the technical and financial assessment of a bid to supply 1300   rail vehicles to railways authority, according to sources. Ranking second is a Hungarian-Russian consortium.
The sources explained that the Chinese offer includes carriages maintenance for 15 years and a grace period of 4 years to repay financing loan.  The railcars will be delivered during a period of 46 months, after 18 months from the date of signing the agreement.
The interest rate in the Chinese bid equals that of the Hungarian-Russian consortium.
The sources said that the ongoing negotiations conducted by the ministry of transport aim to increasing grace period of the purchase loan, adding it is expected to decide on one of the two bids within 2 weeks.
Minister of transport Hesham Arafat said that the committee tasked with examining bids recommended the acceptance of the offer submitted by the firm that ranked first.
In previous statements, minister of transport Hesham Arafat said that the supply agreement stipulates that the locomotives meet a 40% domestic component requirement by cooperating with a state-owned entity specialized in heavy industry, such as SEMAF or one of the Military Production Ministry’s factories.