Orascom Telecom Holding has high hopes that the current parliament will amend a number of laws and procedures for investment that will help the company complete its projects. Executive Vice President of Orascom Telecom Media Tamer El-Mahdy said that Orascom is one of few companies operating strongly at present and hopes to enter acquisition deals with other companies in the fields of communications and energy. “We hope for a better future in light of the Parliament,” he said.
In his interview with Daily News Egypt, he said the current Parliament must look at legislation that must be amended to attract investment and allow the Egyptian economy to make a leap in the near future.
The Egypt Economic Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh last March helped attract several foreign investors and companies and many memoranda of understanding (MoU) were signed. However legislative deficiencies and slow procedures and have prevented most of MoUs from becoming final contracts.
“Of course when there is production and an increase in exports, there will be less of a need for hard currency on the market and this will reduce the current crisis. The Parliament will be capable of solving this problem,” he said.
He said Orascom Telecom Media operates in five sectors including the financial services sector after acquiring Beltone and CI Capital and the sectors of energy, logistics, recycling, and communications. He declined to disclose the total investments intended to be supplied this year, stressing that many projects are being studied with the help of specialized consulting offices.
Orascom intends to establish a solar power plant with a capacity of 50MW at a cost of $100m according to the feed-in tariff approved by the cabinet. Orascom is negotiating with local and international institutions to finance 70% of project costs.
“It is not difficult to fund the project; we have signed agreements with several banks to fund the construction of a station, including the International Finance Corporation, the European Reconstruction and Development Bank, Commercial International Bank, the National Bank of Egypt, and Banque Misr,” Al-Mahdy said.
Orascom Telecom Media is coordinating with RIC to compete for a number of solar energy projects, which will be offered for bidding for commercial, residential, and utilities installments. He pointed out that RIC will support the company through its extensive experience in the fields of design, construction, operation, and maintenance.
He said the new and renewable energy market includes projects worth $2.5bn, of which the company aims to acquire 20% during the coming two years or the equivalent of $500m.
Orascom succeeded in establishing partnerships with a number of outstanding enterprises in all sectors to expand investment projects. Orascom signed agreements with Lafarge to create recycling projects, Aramex to establish transportation projects, and RIC to construct solar energy stations.
Orascom is currently interested in recycling waste to produce energy for cement factories and that nearly 65 factories for waste recycling across the country have suspended their work. El-Mahdy was communicating with the Ministry of Environment to access facilities for the waste recycling system and contractors in various governorates.
He said the Lafarge-Orascom Telecom Media alliance contracted with the Ministry of Environment a few weeks ago to process nearly 600,000 tonnes of waste per year and the alliance hopes to bring six factories into operation again out of the total that stopped work during 2016.
