By Mohamed Attia
After the ministry and its companies and sectors succeeded in recovering their full health and overcoming the crisis of the spread of the coronavirus and many of the ministry’s companies were able to convert losses into profits, the sector began during the current period to implement the project to exploit the investment area in Sharm El-Sheikh airport. This is in accordance with the state’s orientations to increase investments in this vital sector and exploit many of the new investment opportunities at all levels of the civil aviation sector, which will contribute to providing an attractive economic environment for pumping investments into it.
This was evident in the holding of a meeting by Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli to review the procedures for exploiting the investment area in the city of Sharm El-Sheikh airport, in the presence of Team Pilot Mohamed Abbas Helmy, Minister of Civil Aviation, Pilot Ahmed Mansour, Chairman of the Egyptian Airports Company and Engineer Khaled Saadallah, the project consultant.
Minister of Civil Aviation Mohamed Abbas confirmed during the meeting that the total area of the proposed investment area in Sharm El-Sheikh airport is estimated to be 4.18 million square metres.
According to the minister’s confirmations, it can be exploited through implementation in three phases, so that a commercial area is established, and a second area is exploited through the establishment of a recreational area, a hotel and a sports club, and another area is fully allocated for the establishment of a theme park.
The minister also touched on the technical and financial study that was prepared in this regard, the estimated investment cost, and the expected economic returns from implementing this project, pointing out that coordination is being held with the General Authority for Investment to study the participation of the private sector in this project, through local and international bids, with the aim of pumping new investments, as one of the possible alternatives for implementing the project, either through one of the developers or through the usufruct system.
The minister also indicated that a consulting office has been commissioned to prepare the terms of reference and specifications, confirming that a market study has been conducted for the area in coordination with investors in the tourism sector in the area to determine the most appropriate ways to exploit the land plot.
About the project
The land allocated for the project is located north-east of Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport on the Peace Road and is owned by the Egyptian Airports Company. The land is suitable for investment in tourism and recreation, especially as it is adjacent to the tourist hotel block, which gives it a unique investment value by exploiting it as a tourist and recreational investment project.
The aim of the project is to create distinctive activity places with a completely new investment approach to create a new economic artery with multiple uses, tourism, housing, and recreation, in line with the state’s development plans to be one of the unique landmarks of the new republic.
Sharm El-Sheikh lacks amusement parks and world-class sports venues that host international and national sporting events. The philosophy of the project is directed towards creating multiple specialised activities with a unique economic feasibility, both in terms of quantity and quality, in line with the state’s strategic plans to create new resources and axes.
Construction revolution
On the other hand, Egyptian airports are witnessing a revolution in infrastructure and development projects during the current period.
The Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation, headed by Engineer Mohamed Saeed Mahrous, and the Egyptian Airports Company, headed by Pilot Ahmed Mansour, have achieved a leap in the services provided to passengers and increased air and tourism traffic to Egypt with the aim of reaching 30 million tourists annually, according to the future state plan.
Cairo International Airport, under the leadership of Accountant Magdy Ishaq, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cairo Airport Company, has started the operation of the electric walkway project. The walkway includes two gathering areas, the first at the multi-storey garage and the second at the passenger building 2, in addition to 5 service areas distributed along the walkway, while the hub area includes commercial and service areas, cafes and toilets. It was also equipped with “self-service and golf cars” that were specially supplied to serve the project.
The walkway is fully air-conditioned for the comfort of passengers and is equipped with the latest technological systems, including surveillance cameras, flight display screens, internet service and fire systems.
As for the multi-storey garage project, which is one of the development projects at Cairo International Airport, its capacity reaches more than 2,500 cars with a floor area of 18,000 square metres after five floors, and ten elevators are working at full capacity.
Discussion about this post