Egypt retracts on buying water from private sector over high prices – Egypt The government retracts from buying water from the private sector due to the high prices offered by Arab and international companies. However, the government decided to limit itself to bidding for desalination plants according to the state strategy. Informed sources told Daily News Egypt that the bids received by the government to buy a cubic metre of water from desalination plants ranged between EGP 17-20, which are more than double of the prices that the government wants to contract, which is between EGP 5-7. (LINK). HIWI042019-05-05T06:39:34+02:00