In October 2015, Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House) reported that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) was negotiating with the PPP unit of Egypt's finance ministry on private participation in infrastructure schemes, among them seawater desalination at Safaga, El-Alamein and El-Tor. The EBRD paid consultancy Atkins to prepare the tenders. Safaga was budgeted at US$55 million (EGP 450 million), with bidding due to open in November. El-Tor had US$30 million (EGP 250 million) allocated.
The item showed Egypt preparing new desalination capacity through public-private partnerships, with an international development bank already funding the advisers for the tenders.