Alaa Al-Soketi, Head of the Egyptian Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Association said—during the second National Youth Conference in Aswan—that the integrated industrial complexes project will include 200 small plants of between 150 and 300 meters and 50 offices to provide services needed by factories in marketing, quality, finance, and others.
He added that at a later stage there will be medium enterprise complexes of larger spaces to transfer the small projects qualified to expand by its growth.
He pointed out that President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi gave directions to the government to cooperate with the European Union to put the idea of industrial complexes on the list of implementation.
This came during the association’s directors meeting yesterday where Al-Soketi presented details on the integrated industrial complexes.
He said that according to the proposed project, each unit will cost EGP 2m, including all the equipment, cost of production, and services that will be obtained from the service offices until operating starts.
The investors shall bear 25% of the cost and the remainder will be provided by borrowing soft loans repaid on a three-year period.
He pointed out that the association has provided a full concept of the administrative structure of the industrial complexes, which includes managing complexes through a management company for each complex. Each company will be responsible for the identification of projects that will work in the industrial complex and the markets of each product, in light of the government data that will be obtained from the production rates and the needs of the market. The companies will also be responsible for overcoming technical or administrative problems encountered by industrial units and the complex in general.
To ensure the success of the complexes and the management companies, Al-Soketi said that the proposed project recommended the presence of a body of small enterprises to be responsible for setting the terms of management companies, determine their work, make decisions for all state parties, extend management companies with information and needed data, and develop a strategy of action for complexes in light of the state economic plan.
This makes industrial complexes a form of partnership in development between the government—represented in small enterprises—and the private sector—represented in the management companies and industrial and service units.
