Mohamed Hathout, chairman and CEO of KAHROMIKA, talks to The Energy Year about the company’s activities and strengths in the Egyptian energy industry and its plans for growth within Egypt and the region. KAHROMIKA is a construction company active in the power, oil and gas, industrial and infrastructure sectors.
What are the company’s main contracts in Egypt at the moment?
We are working with the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company and its affiliate power generation companies, as well as with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company. You can see this through our participation in the power generation plants over the last two to three years. KAHROMIKA participated at 52 power plants built (steam – gas – oil) for more than 20 GW of power generated.
We have worked on two supercritical power plants – Cairo West and Assiut – each of around 650 MW, with Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction. We provided mechanical installation for steam turbines, condensers and generators, and auxiliaries along with E&I works.
KAHROMIKA constructed more than 45% of EHV and HV transmission lines of 500/220/66 kV in Egypt, 128 GIS and conventional substations of up to 500-kV rating and more than 1,000 kilometres of 220/66-kV underground cables.
Have you been providing mechanical installation services to other plants?
Yes – for instance, we have recently completed the mechanical installation for two supercritical boilers at the South Helwan supercritical power plant for AC BOILERS S.P.A. (formerly Ansaldo Caldaie). We also did eight units for the heat recovery steam generation with AC BOILERS S.P.A. for the Al Shabab Power Project Phase II. In the last year and despite the Covid-19 pandemic events, we achieved successful completion of a fast-track project, the triple bundle 500-kV double circuit OHTL Benban III/Toshka II for the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company.
How has KAHROMIKA fared since the pandemic began?
In 2020, we were doing well. Revenue increased by 70% compared to 2019, to EGP 800 million [USD 50.9 million]. However, in 2021 the pandemic impacted the infrastructure plans for new projects, so we are not expecting to have as much revenue for this year.
But overall, while most companies faced problems in 2020 because of Covid-19, we did well. For us, a challenge comes in being in competition with many players around Egypt. This is especially true for overhead transmission lines, power generation units, mechanical works and E&I works.
How successful has the company been in recent overhead transmission line tenders?
In the last few tenders issued in 2020/2021 by the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company, we had a success rate of more than 50%. These were tenders that we were invited to. We are currently doing the overhead transmission lines for Salwas, Girza, and participating in activities related to light rail transit. We are making good progress.
What are KAHROMIKA’s plans in the short term?
We are focusing on EPC works for the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company. We are also thinking of having our own production lines. We have not yet finalised our facilities, but we are thinking of setting up a production line for materials related to the electricity sector. Our timeframe for this would be within 8-12 months.
What are your expansion plans in the MENA region?
Due to Covid-19, we faced a lot of problems in moving from one country to another as the needed services are specialised and couldn’t be outsourced. Nevertheless, we moved recently into Libya to begin preparations to work there, and we already have offices in-country. We believe it will be a good opportunity for us, but things are moving a little slowly.
We’ve previously worked in Algeria and in the Gulf area. We currently have branches in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and we are trying to enhance our branch offices in the MENA region. Apart from that, we aim to enlarge our business in Africa.
KAHROMIKA’s shareholding structure is: Arabia Investments Holding (AIH) (51%), Holding Company for Construction & Development (39%), and Elsewedy Electric Co. (10%).
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