CAIRO- Egypt and Sudan will begin operating a joint electricity grid from Jan. 12 with a capacity of 50 megawatts, Egypt's state news agency MENA said on Sunday.

The project's cost has reached 509 million Egyptian pounds ($31.74 million) and spans 1,000 km (621 miles), MENA said, citing Egypt's energy minister.

($1 = 16.0375 Egyptian pounds)

(Reporting by Omar Fahmy; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Nadine Awadalla and Louise Heavens) ((Ulf.Laessing@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: follow me on twitter @ulflaessing))