INVESTMENT WATCH- SFE to invest EGP 30 bn in desalination build-up: The Sovereign Wealth Fund of Egypt (SFE) has been charged with funneling EGP 30 bn in investments towards the first phase of the government’s EGP 134.2 bn plan to build desalination plants across the country, Planning Ministry statement quotes SFE CEO Ayman Soliman as saying. The SFE will back the plants through its new infrastructure sub-fund announced last week. The first phase will see 47 desalination plants with an output 1.4 mn cf/d built by 2025 at a total cost of EGP 45 bn. All six phases of the plan aim to generate 6.4 mn cbm/d of water.

SFE given more assets for Khedival Cairo project: The SFE’s joint redevelopment of Old Cairo with the private sector — dubbed the Khedival Cairo project — got a further boost after the inclusion of the Mogamma El Tahrir building, the downtown Interior Ministry headquarters, and the former HQ of the now-defunct National Democratic Party by presidential decree.

The fund is currently studying turning the Mogamma — or part of it — into a hotel, Soliman told El Hekaya’s Amr Adib last night (watch, runtime: 12:34). This is the second time the state has transferred assets to the SFE, after EGP 17.5 bn worth of monuments and buildings were placed under the fund’s care last year, including a conference hall in Nasr City and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.