(Yicai Global) Sept. 5 -- A group led by China's Dongfang Electricand Shanghai Electric Grouphas secured a USD4.4 billion contract to supply advanced power generatorsto the world's biggest clean coal-fired power plant in Egypt.

Dongfang Electric Chairman Zou Lei signed the dealon Sept. 2atthe China-Egypt Business Forum in the Egyptian Embassyin Beijing with Egypt's minister for electricity and renewable energy, Mohamed ShakerEl-Arkabi, looking on,China News Service reported.

The 6,600-megawatt Hamrawein project will use the world's most efficient ultra-supercritical power-generation systems accompanied by emission-free environmental protection technologies, the report said.The plant's main generators,aproduct of the collaborationbetweenChengdu-basedDongfang Electricand Shanghai Electricusing theirproprietary intellectual property rights, marksthe pair's first steptowardpopularizingtheirworld-class patented technologies, it added.

Theproject will provide more than 5,000 local jobs and offer over 1,000 long-term positions aftercompletion,according toHu Weidong, general manager of Dongfang Electric International.

Dongfang Electricwill be actively involved in China's Belt and Roadinitiativeinviewof the close Chinese-Egyptianties inpolitics and economy andtrade,Zou said. Starting from the Hamrawein plant,the firmwill actively engage in new power projects in Egypt, bringingits advantages in generation equipment development and experience in engineering, procurement and construction, or EPC,to bear.

Unveiled in 2013, theBelt and Road initiativeis a 30- to 40-year plan to build a vast infrastructure and trade route embracing Asia, Europe and Africa.

Dongfang Electricwillalsoexpand its business in coal-fired power generation, oil-and-gas-fired power generation, pumped storage,andwind, solar and nuclear power,while forgingin-depth cooperative ties with local Egyptian companies, Zou added.

The Chinese-led group underbida consortium ofEgypt'sOrascom Construction and Elsewedy Electric withUS-basedMitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems,state newspaper Al Ahram said, according to an Energy Egypt report in June. The two Chinese firmswill collaborate withlocal Hassan Allam Construction on the project,the report added.

Editor: Ben Armour