Saudi Arabia 's cabinet will likely review next month a $1.5 billion project linking the power grids of the kingdom with Egypt , a person familiar with the matter said Monday.

"The feasibility study and the designs for the project are complete...and should be reviewed by the Saudi cabinet in December," the person told Dow Jones Newswires. "Both countries are keen to implement the project," the person added.

Last month, Saudi Arabia 's water and electricity minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen said the cabinet was expected to review the project's plan soon and "if it passes that stage then it will set the stage for starting to agree on the commercial agreement and starting the bidding process for the construction."

The project, which aims to exchange 3,000 megawatts of electricity between the two power-hungry countries through direct-current electrical lines, was initially expected to start trial operations in 2015.

It has been severely delayed due to the political upheaval in Egypt , despite the North African country's desire to push the project forward, according to people aware of the situation.

A spokesperson for Egypt 's electricity ministry told Zawya Dow Jones in a recent interview that the project was expected to move faster after the new cabinet in Egypt was appointed.

Saudi Electricity Co. (5110.SA), the largest listed utility among the Gulf Arab states, and Egyptian Electricity Holding Co. will each finance, own and operate parts of the grid in their respective countries.

Both Saudi Arabia and Egypt had expected the construction of the mega project to start in 2012.

Egypt plans to send Saudi Arabia electricity through the connection in the afternoons and the kingdom will send electricity to Egypt in the evenings, taking advantage of the difference in the countries' peak usage hours.

Saudi Arabia, the Middle East's biggest economy, has seen its power requirements rise rapidly in recent years as its population grew and the government spent oil revenues on new industries and infrastructure to diversify the local economy away from hydrocarbons.

The kingdom needs to invest 500 billion Saudi riyals ($133.3 billion) in electricity generation and distribution over the next 10 years to meet the growing demand. It is also studying a plan to export electricity to European markets during the winter when the kingdom's power demands are low, and import it during the summers when the country has peak load.

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