The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) continues to work hard at attracting investments with the promise of becoming an international industrial and logistical hub.
The SCZone is making preparations for the construction of a Russian industrial zone, which comes only days after the foundation stone of a Chinese electrical appliances plant was laid in the zone. The Chinese plant will create hundreds of jobs for Egyptian professionals.
During a recent visit to Russia, SCZone Chairman Yahia Zaki discussed plans for the construction of the Russian industrial area.
He said he discussed with Russian officials during his visit the terms of the agreement on the operation of the zone.
“We also discussed a timeline for the implementation of the project,” a local newspaper quoted him as saying.
He expected the final contract on the construction of the park to be signed before the end of this year.
This, he said, would signal the actual construction of the zone.
The SCZone comes at the centre of Egypt’s development plan for the Suez Canal region. The SCZone is designed to function as a major industrial logistical area, capitalising on its wonderful location near the Suez Canal, Sokhna Port and the East Port Said Port.
Egypt spent billions of dollars on the development of the Suez Canal region in recent years, including the digging of a parallel channel to the Suez Canal to allow two-way traffic in the international waterway for the first time since its opening in 1869.
The Russian zone will be established in east Port Said and Sokhna. Products to be manufactured in the zone will go to both local market and foreign markets.
Around $7 billion will go into the implementation of the project, giving local economists hope that it can function as a magnet for a large number of Russian industrial companies.
“The Russian industrial zone will have whatever it takes to become an international industrial axis,” independent economist Ali el-Idrissi said. “It will be one of the most important projects in the Suez Canal region.”
The Russian government submitted an official request for the construction of an industrial zone in the SCZone in May this year. A high-level Russian delegation is expected to pay a visit to the SCZone this month to inspect the location of the industrial zone.
A delegation of Russian businessmen is also expected to visit the SCZone in September.
So far, 32 Russian companies expressed interest in founding plants and warehouses inside the Russian industrial zone in Sokhna, which will be constructed over 5.2 million square metres.
Actual construction of the zone is expected to start in 2022. The first phase of the project will be constructed over one million square metres in Sokhna and 500,000 square metres in east Port Said.
The development plan for the Suez Canal region is also part of Egypt’s national strategy for the localisation of industrial technologies and upgrading the local industrial sector.
The administration of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is so keen on transferring industrial technologies from advanced states to Egypt, specialists said.
This, they added, would help the local industrial sector move many steps ahead and also keep up with technological advances around the world.
Mahmoud Kamal, the head of think-tank Arab-African Studies Centre, expected the Russian industrial zone to create thousands of jobs for Egyptians.
“Talks about the construction of the zone now come to refute rumours about a deterioration in relations between Cairo and Moscow,” Kamal said.
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