CAIRO, Oct 14 (Aswat Masriya) – The ministry of supplies and internal trade has concluded its technical research for a project to produce bio-diesel from cooking oil, the minister announced on Tuesday, adding that the project will be enacted "soon".

In a press statement released by the ministry, Supplies Minister Khaled Hanafi said that the project would provide job opportunities for the youth and produce around a million litres of diesel annually.

It will be subjected to a trial period in one government first before being implemented nationwide, the ministry said.

Bio-diesel produced through the project is expected to cost EGP3/litre, as opposed to the cost of normal diesel; EGP7/litre.

Egypt is facing its worst energy crisis in years. The crisis has largely affected the country's power supply. For the past three years, Egypt has been suffering from unprecedentedly long and frequent power outages which surged the last summer.

Hanafi said the project entails that for every litre of cooking oil provided by the citizen to the grocer's, he will earn free food commodities on his ration card. The grocer will also earn a similar monetary value upon delivering the cooking oil to the collection centres.

The ministry said the machines used to convert cooking oil to bio-diesel, which cost around five thousand Egyptian pounds each, will be provided.