On 10 August 2026 the Commission des Grands Projets, chaired by the head of government, decided to begin procedures immediately for the extension of the Borj El Amri power station in the Manouba governorate, and placed the project on the list of major projects of strategic character.
The scope is a third gas turbine of between 250 and 400 MW, together with the infrastructure required to evacuate the output. The estimated cost is around 600 million dinars, with commissioning targeted for summer 2027.
The demand numbers behind the decision
Tunisian electricity demand is growing at 4 to 5 percent a year. In July 2026 peak demand reached 6,400 MW, against 5,175 MW in 2025 — an increase of close to 24 percent in a single year. The extension is explicitly intended to reduce the load shedding that followed those peaks.
Borj El Amri already hosts roughly 624 MW of Ansaldo Energia gas turbine capacity, commissioned in 2020 with financing from the Islamic Development Bank and the Saudi Fund for Development. The new unit is a third turbine on an existing, proven site — which is a large part of why it can target summer 2027 at all.
Why the procurement route matters
Classification as a strategic major project is the operative detail. Under Décret n° 2024-497 of 24 October 2024, projects on that list follow a separate regime, and Article 6 permits negotiated procedures outside the standard public procurement route, exempt from TUNEPS and from prior review by the procurement control commissions.
In practice this means the main equipment package will not appear as an open notice on a procurement portal. For turbine OEMs and EPC contractors, visibility comes through direct engagement rather than through tender monitoring.
Article 6 also expressly permits engaging technical assistance offices across project preparation, contracting and execution. A consultancy scope can therefore exist on a strategic project even where no tender is ever published — owner’s engineering, technical specification, bid evaluation support and construction supervision among them.
What remains open
An eighteen-month path from decision to commissioning is demanding for a unit of this size, and the financing arrangement has not been made public. The tension between the announced timetable and the reality of gas turbine delivery lead times is the thing worth watching.
AIUS follows Tunisian power sector procurement, including projects that leave no trace on public portals, and works as local technical partner to international engineering firms and contractors operating in the country.
A major step for Tunisia’s energy sector, addressing the country’s growing electricity demand. ⚡🇹🇳