By Mohamed Darwish
The Suez Canal Container Company is close to obtaining a contract to construct a new canal next to the East Port Said harbour, to be paid for with nearly EGP 3bn in investments. Several companies including the Alexandria Container Company, Damietta Container Company, Port Said Container Company and a number of foreign corporations are also competing to obtain contracts to construct container stations in Port Said at a cost of EGP 3.2bn.
Walid Abd Al-Ghafar, technical supervisor for the Suez Canal Zone Development Project at the Ministry of Housing, said that a special ministerial task force for the Suez Canal Zone will determine on 15 January which company will be awarded the contract to construct the Port Said canal. He added that as of now, the Suez Canal Container Terminal Company looks most likely to win the contract, as it possesses the technological and logistical know-how that other companies do not.
With regard to construction of the Port Said container stations, although foreign companies will be allowed to compete, priority will be given to Egyptian companies if they are able to meet all of the required technical specifications. If they do, then investors will be on direct orders to sponsor and support Egyptian companies.
