TAQA Arabia, the energy subsidiary of Egypt's private equity firm Citadel Capital, said Sunday it won an EUR118 million contract in Libya

TAQA Arabia, the energy subsidiary of Egypt's private equity firm Citadel Capital, said Sunday it won an EUR118 million contract in Libya, its first in the North African country.

Under the contract, TAQA Arabia will connect over 370,000 households in the Libyan cities of Tripoli, Benghazi and Misurata with natural gas through a gas distribution network, the company said in an emailed statement.

The project will be executed through a joint venture between TAQA Arabia and the Libyan Social Economic Development Fund under the auspices of the General People's Committee for Electricity, Water and Gas Distribution, according to the statement.

The joint venture, operating as The Arab Gas Co. (Libya) and to have a paid-in capital of 5 million Libyan dinars ($4 million), will be 49%-owned by TAQA Arabia, while the Libyan Social Economic Development Fund will hold 51%.

"We believe that this contract will be the launching pad for more Libyan projects for TAQA Arabia as well as our other platform companies," said Citadel Capital Managing Director Marwan Elaraby.

TAQA Arabia said it will also draft a strategic plan for the expansion of Libya's gas grid, a project worth an estimated EUR2.5 million.

The company, which was established in March 2006 by Citadel Capital, was previously awarded contracts in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Syria.

-By Tahani Karrar,