Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil said that the approval of the draft law on the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) reflects the fruitful cooperation between the ministry and parliament’s industry committee.
Kabil noted that the draft law made the IDA an economic public body with an independent legal status affiliated with the Ministry of Industry.
Kabil explained that the authority will be responsible for organising industrial activity in the Arab Republic of Egypt, which allows the authority to implement industrial policies and targeted development plans.
For his part, Ahmed Abdel Razik, head of the IDA, said that the IDA has become the only authority responsible for granting industrial facilities licenses and approvals necessary for the operation of industrial facilities, which makes it easier for investors to obtain land, licenses, and approvals from only one place (the IDA).
Adviser to The minister of trade and industry for legal affairs and representative of the government during parliament’s discussion of the law, Hisham Ragab, said that the draft law grants independence to the IDA in two parts. The first part is that it is an independent economic body in its financial budget and is entitled to maintaining its budget surplus. The second part of the law gives the IDA the right to set regulations and administrative systems for its work without restricting organisational and administrative laws.
“The draft law grants the IDA the right to allocate lands for industrial activity under its jurisdiction directly without reference to the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA),” added Ragab. “The lands that are not under the IDA in the governorates, which they wish to allocate, the IDA has the right to demand the authorities owning these lands to allocate them according to rules put forward by the IDA, in accordance with its rules.”
He noted that the draft law for the IDA has contributed to facilitating access to land, licenses, and approvals to investors in the industrial sector from only one place, rather than the multiple access bodies for industrial land, thus decreasing the period needed for issuing licenses.
