(Photo by: Mohamed Omar)
By Ahmed Saad
The Civil Aviation Ministry is currently awaiting approval from the cabinet to begin work on the first stage of its new Aero City project next to the Cairo International Airport.
Abdul Aziz Fadel, Minister of Civil Aviation, said a meeting would soon be held with the country’s finance ministry, during which the details of the project’s first stage would be agreed upon. A report detailing the results of the meeting would then be provided to the cabinet.
Events stemming from the fallout of the protests and sit-ins held by supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi near the Rabaa Al-Adaweya Mosque and in Al-Nahda square, have postponed the project being brought before the cabinet and the Ministry of Investment.
According to Fadel, the first stage has so far attracted $3bn in investments, will make 410,000 sq m of land available for construction and provide upwards of 30,000 new job opportunities. The Ministry stated it would soon seek to attract new foreign investors to take part in the project.
Previous Civil Aviation Minister Major Al-Ma’dawi, had already postponed the release of the project’s first stage, in order to present suggestions to Morsi related to the need for the project to create more job opportunities for the nation’s youth.
Tariq Wafiq, previous Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, criticised the chosen location for the project, which he said would have a negative effect on traffic in the area. He added that he would soon intervene within the cabinet and advocate that the location be moved to the area surrounding 6th of October City airport.
The project currently seeks to attract $20bn in investments by constructing additional tourist, commercial, sports and educational locations and facilities, on a total of 220,000 acres of land.
Fadel added that the Civil Aviation Ministry will launch new procedures to establish an aviation maintenance and repair company, estimated to bring in upwards of EGP 800m per year in revenues, in addition to helping to train a new batch of highly skilled employees familiar with the most modern forms of systems management.
Translated from Al-Borsa
