Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli on Wednesday inaugurated the new cutter suction dredger (CSD) Hussein Tantawi, raising the Egyptian flag over it in the Suez Canal.
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) earlier announced the arrival of the dredger, the second largest most modern in the Middle East.
It was separated from the Chinese heavy load carrier TAI AN KOU in Great Bitter Lake, under supervision of SCA and full coordination with the ship’s crew and experts from the Dutch Royal IHC.
The dredger will be used to maintain and improve the Suez Canal.
Hussein Tantawi dredger has advanced specifications, with a total length of 147.4 metres, a width of 23 metres, a draft of 5.5 metres, and a productivity of 3,600 cubic meters of sand per hour along its 4 km floating ejection line, a statement quoted SCA Chairman Osama Rabie as saying on Tuesday.
It has a total capacity of 29,190 km Watt, with the ability to deal with all types of soil, including rocky.
The CSD is a stationary dredger used to mine for sand. The suction pipe is pushed vertically into a sand deposit. If necessary water jets help to bring the sand up. It is loaded into barges or pumped via pipeline directly to the reclamation area.
The government is keen to support craft industries and integrate them into the formal economy since they create jobs and help boost the economy.
This statement by Prime Minister Madbouli came during his tour on Wednesday in Ismailia to inspect the craft workshops complex, south of el-Mostakbal City.
The government attaches great importance to improving craft industries across the country as they support the economy, the prime minister said.
The premier also instructed the officials concerned to lay on suitable transport for workers in the city.
Ismailia Governor Sherif Fahmi briefed the prime minister on the craft complex, which, he said, near completion as 95 per cent has been done.
The complex comprises 463 workshops, each with an area between 36m2 and 191m2.
Covering a total area of 32,000 m2, the workshops are used for marble, tiles, plumbing, painting, carpentry and metalwork. The complex has 55 shops, 6 cafeterias plus administrative and service buildings.
Madbouli visited the Investor Service Centre (ISC) in Ismailia, where he inspected some of its departments and received a briefing on ISC services.
The prime minister hailed efforts by the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) to open investor service centres in the governorates and to offer top-quality services.
This is a big step to promoting investment opportunities nationwide, Madbouli said.
The premier moved on to check progress to date in a national project for developing governorates’ capitals and major cities, which will entail the construction of 500,000 housing units in the governorates as per President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s directives and in the context of the presidential initiative ‘Housing for All Egyptians’.
The governor of Ismailia said 80 land feddans (acres) had been allocated to this project, which will include social and medium housing, and a commercial area on the Cairo-Ismailia Desert Road.
He said that the project is scheduled to be completed in 18 months.
