Egypt Woos Investments in Suez Canal
With Legislative Reform Committee giving the go-ahead for the suggested Suez Canal Project regulatory legal frame work, Egypt is offering investors massive projects worth billions of U.S. dollars for the development of the Suez Canal region.
The new Law allows authority to launch major development company, and completely own it or in co-operation with private sector, and cancel the requirement of owning at least 50%. The government will offer investors 18 projects worth around $40 billion to create a new industrial and logistical zone along the strategic waterway.
”The authority will literally be a single-window,” Hani Sarie-Eldin, Chairman of Sarie – Eldin & Partners – Legal Advisors said. “The Suez Canal Corridor is the biggest national project for public and private investments. Its success in attracting real investments is a quantum leap for the Canal area, putting it on map of international investments.”
Sarie-Eldin thinks Egypt’s legislative environment should witness comprehensive development to revive trust in the Egyptian economy and attract investments. In his view, this is the main entrance of employment, growth and economic recovery.
The creation of the zone is the second leg of an ambitious program to develop the canal. Egypt is already rushing to deepen the waterway and build a second branch to allow two-way traffic, an expansion officials say will be finished by August.
Mohab Mameesh, the head of the authority, told The Associated Press the aim is to increase the role of the waterway in international trade and increase its benefits to the country's damaged economy. The projects will be promoted to potential investors at an international conference that opened in the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Friday.
"We are starting with 18 projects but the total number is much bigger," Memish told Xinhua news agency. Egypt is working on expanding the Suez Canal and later on developing the Suez Canal Corridor which is expected to include huge projects like the establishment of an industrial city with hundreds of factories.
The Egyptian people succeeded in collecting more than 64 billion pounds (USD nine billion) in eight days for the massive expansion project because they believe that Egypt was heading towards further security, stability and economic development, Mameesh said.
The national project is a major part of the new Egyptian leadership's struggle to revive the country's ailing economy that suffered from a four-year political turmoil.
"Over 1,000 factories can be established in the development of the Suez Canal Corridor, but the most important thing is to provide the necessary infrastructure for these factories," Memish added, expecting the total revenues after the Suez Canal expansion and the relevant development projects to reach 100 billion U.S. dollars per year.
