The Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) and its subsidiary, East Delta Electricity Production Company (EDEPC) received approval of funding in 2008 for the construction of a power plant in the pristine South Sinai Peninsula, at the heart of the popular touristic area of Nuweiba City. Locals only found out about the project after they noticed the construction equipment in the area, and their outrage led to immediate mobilisation and campaigning to stop the project. The two local tribes, the Tarabin and the Maizena, would have been particularly impacted by its implementation, considering its negative outcomes on the environment and tourism in the city, a source of livelihood for the Sinai tribes. The Bedouin tribes in the area coordinated with owners of hotels, scuba diving centers, beach camp owners, community members, and tourist operators to send complaints to the two funding banks, the African Development Bank (ADB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB). The complaints centered around the arguments that there was no proper consultation of citizens of Nuweiba before approving the project, nor consideration given to how it would lead to the demise of the local tourism industry, forcing the closure of hotels, diving centers, and other tourism service providers, and causing the loss of jobs and livelihoods. The approval of the project also gave no consideration to the preservation of local biodiversity, with its largely undisturbed marine life and coral reefs, disregarding the fact that the Gulf of Aqaba is a protected area under Egyptian law. Local NGO Hemaya also intervened, mobilizing the community to protest, and creating an online petition entitled “Stop the Destruction of Nuweiba and its Coral Reefs”, which was signed by more than 2,300 people.  It was outrageous that the project had been approved by the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) under strong pressure from the Minister of Electricity, less than a week after receiving the EIA, with a minimal study of it by ministry experts. Some reports allege that the project had actually not received approval from the EEAA, yet construction permit was given by the South Sinai Govornorate. Although the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) argued that the project would help create jobs for the bedouins, it completely disregarded the fact that the bedouins would not work in construction or labor, and that the project would only push them off their land and further into the mountains. After receiving the complaints, the EIB sent three independent experts to assess the impacts of the project. The investigation confirmed the negative social, environmental and economic impacts of the power plant, and based on the findings the EIB declined funding the project in the specified location. HEPCA reported in its newsletter on 1 January, 2010 that "the European Investment Bank has declined a US $320 million loan to finance the project amid considerable pressure from environmental campaigners.” According to el-Ghamrawy, the owner of an ecolodge nearby and one of the leaders of the campaign, the success of the campaign marked a new kind of activism in Egypt, where the whole community came together, including the two tribes who have a history of conflict, showing the power people can have if they unite. There are speculations that a new location is being considered for the project, possibly in Ayoub Moussa, but there is no concrete data on this yet, and HEPCA has promised to closely follow-up on the case.