By Hassan Ghanema
The board of the General Authority for the Northwestern Suez Gulf Economic Zone agreed Tuesday to launch its “Tahrir” project, which will entail construction of a petrochemical industrial complex on an area of five square kilometres in Ain Sokhna, according to the board’s chairman, Major General Mohammed Refaat.
Refaat said that Minister of Industry, Foreign Trade, and Investment Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour has taken special care to support this project, as it is labour-intensive, helps fight unemployment and provides work opportunities for young people.
The authority’s board decided to designate Engineer Adel Ayoub, Chairman of the Main Development Company (MDC), to contract with Basel El-Baz, chairman of the Tahrir complex, a subsidiary of Carbon Holding, in order to sign a partnership contract within the area that has yet to be annexed, measuring 14 kilometres. The administration of the Tahrir Complex will extend the project’s facilities at its own expense.
Refaat said that one half of the project is funded through local investments, and the other through a Saudi-Emirati partnership with companies registered with chambers of finance in the UAE and London. This reflects the strength of the Arab financial position, he added.
Refaat said that the project will provide 20,000 direct jobs and 100,000 other indirect jobs during the construction process, which will take 3 years. Upon operation, the project will provide 3,000 direct employment opportunities and 50,000 indirect employment opportunities. The complex includes several factories that will provide various chemical supplies for the local market in multiple governorates of Egypt. They will be exported through the Sokhna and Adabiya ports in Suez.
Refaat said that the authority is currently preparing a protocol to activate a partnership with the Chinese TEDA company. TEDA will develop approximately six kilometres of land and market them to businessmen in China, the Gulf states and Europe, in order to set up industrial projects worldwide.
