CAIRO - 30 January 2024: The Egyptian government succeeded in attracting billions worth of investments in 2023, and they are mostly concentrated in the sectors of green energy, logistics, and IT, capitalizing on the unique location of Egypt in the world. In the following, we display the major agreements signed in that realm.
December
Norway's Scatec and the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) signed a cooperation agreement to establish the country's first solar battery. The project is about setting up a 1-gigawatt (GW) solar plant and a 200 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery storage facility.
November
In the logistics sector, the Ministry of Transport in Egypt signed in November an MoU with the South Korea's STX in order to develop Matrouh's Gargoub Port and its logistics zone. The South Korean firm will conduct a comprehensive feasibility study on equipping, managing, operating, and maintaining the port, its docks and infrastructure.
In the manufacturing sector, the SCzone, the TSFE, and the East Port Said Development Company (EPSD) signed an agreement in November with Germany's Volkswagen to conduct feasibility studies for the establishment of the East Port Said Automotive Zone (EPAZ).
The EPAZ project is aimed at attracting investments totaling approximately $240 million and create over 6,000 direct and indirect job opportunities.
Volkswagen's mission will be by providing technical assistance to achieve the objectives of the Automotive Industry Development Program (AIDP). The program, launched in June 2022, has as goal the localization of the automotive industry in Egypt.
In a different context, the TSFE and the private sector partnered up to establish the Cosmic Village’s school complex whose mission is delivering world-class education that is affordable to middle-income Egyptian families.
The project was inaugurated in November, as four out of five schools within the first phase have begun operation in the current academic year.
The project succeeded in turning what once was an unutilized state asset, the Cosmic Village land, into an integrated educational hub.
Two schools have been developed/built by Mobica Integrated Industries and are managed by Egypt Education Platform (EEP). Those are Westview International Language School (WILS), and Scholars International Language School (SILS).
The third is “Regent School,” which a joint venture between Cairo Investment and Real Estate Development Company (CIRA) and Elsewedy Capital, and is managed by Eduhive. The third is "Future Tech School," which is both is built and managed by CIRA.
The number of students in the four schools has reached about 1,000. Yet, the target is 10,000 students upon the completion of the project's first phase. In that framework, a partnership contract for the establishment of the fifth school (a French school) will soon be signed.
October
The Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy and the Chinese Energy China Group signed in October a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to conduct a feasibility study on establishing a pumping and storage station with a capacity of 2,000 megawatts. The study will include the technical, economic, and financial aspects of the project intended to be implemented in the build-own-operate (BOO) system.
August
Ocior Energy signed an initial contract with the Egyptian government to set up a $4 billion green hydrogen plant in SCZone. The final contract will be signed in a few months and the implementation will be carried out over 5-6 years. The plant's annual production is planned to be 400,000 tons per annum, and it will be exported to Europe generating revenues of up to $1 billion. Further, the project will be powered by 15 GW of solar energy.
The Ministry of Transport signed a contract to establish a dry port in Cairo's 10th of Ramadan City, and an MoU to introduce another in Alexandria's Borg Al Arab.
Medlog MSC had won a tender to finance, design, build, operate, and maintain the 10th of Ramadan Dry Port, planned to span over 250 feddans (one feddan equals 4,500 square meters). It will be divided into a dry port (130 feddans), and a logistic center (120 feddans).
The project, where 400,000 containers are expected to be circulated annually, will be implemented in the public-private partnership (PPP) system with the duration being 30 years, and the investment cost being $100 million.
The land has been connected to roads, electricity grid, water supply, wastewater and telecommunication networks. And, currently, it is being linked to a railway line extending between Cairo's Robeiky Industrial City and Sharqia's Belbes.
As for the Borg Al Arab Dry Port, the MoU was signed with Ocean Express. The project stretches on 120 feddans and is situated on the highway connecting Borg Al Arab with Bangar Al Sokar agricultural lands near the railways and the fifth industrial zone. It also lies 56 kilometers away from the Port of Alexandria, 48 kilometers from Alexandria's Dekheila Port, and 20 kilometers from Borg Al Arab Airport.
The Dry Port will be connected to the railways, and the road that will link together Borg Al Arab Industrial Zone, Port of Alexandria, Dekheila Port, Abou Kir Port, and Matrouh's Gargoub Port.
Forty percent will be executed within the first phase that will last for 12 months. That phase includes the train station, handling yard, first section of the container yard, and buildings of the customs and other governmental services. On the other hand, the second phase will be carried out over 24 months.
The cost of the port's infrastructure and superstructure is LE780. Its annual handling capacity is 120,000 containers, 2.5 million tons of dry cargo, and 4.2 million tons of general cargo. The logistic zone in the port will be stretch on 85,000 square meters.
May
Alexandria National Refining and Petrochemical Company (ANRPC) and the Norwegian renewable energy company Scatec, signed a MoU to build a $450-million green methanol production project.
The plant, set to be located in the port of Damietta, will have an annual production capacity of 40,000 tons that will later to be raised to 200,000 tons annually.
The agreement consists of constructing 40-MW solar plant and 120-MW wind farm, as well as a green hydrogen analyzer with a capacity of 60 megawatts.
In a related context, the SCZone, several Egyptian entities, and China Energy transformed an MoU into a comprehensive collaboration framework to establish a green hydrogen production plant at Ain Sokhna's economic zone.
The plant worth $6.75 billion will stretch on 500,000 square meters and generate 210,000 tons of green hydrogen annually. The green hydrogen produced will be used to generate 1.2 million tons of green ammonia per annum.
Also, the SCzone and China's United Energy signed an agreement to establish an $8-billion a potassium chloride production facility whose capacity will be 4.1 million tons per annum. Twenty percent will be directed to the local market. It is noted that that the plant will be powered by 6.1 GW of renewable energy.
Benya, Khazna Data Centers, and Maadi Technology Park signed in May an MoU to establish a high-density data center with a capacity of 25 megawatts and a cost of $250 million, spanning over 40,000 meters.
March
The TSFE announced signing a contract with Aya for Real Estate Development to lease the former headquarters of the Ministry of Interior in downtown Cairo.
The company will turn the place into office buildings, crowdsourcing center, shopping mall, branch of a French university, dorms, and three-star hotel, implementing the plan set by the fund after carrying out the necessary studies.
The goal is attracting international students, young tourists, and start-up investors, capitalizing on the complex location and size, as it consists of seven buildings stretching on 39,895 square meters.
The company will revamp the complex at LE800 million, as well as pay a fixed annual rent, and a share of profits to TSFE.
February
Elsewedy Data Centers signed an MoU with the Emirati Gulf Data Hub to build a $2.1-billion data center hub that will comprise three world-class data centers located in three different locations. The hub will have a total storage capacity of 192 megawatts, and a total power load of 300 megawatts in 5-7 years.
The implementation will be carried out over four phases, and the hub will be connected to other data centers owned and operated by GDH in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Overview
Chairman of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) Hossam Heiba stated in November that 32,447 companies were founded in Egypt in FY2022/2023 compared to 30,961 companies in FY2021/2022.
The GAFI chairman highlighted that, in the past nine years, there was a major leap in the modernization of infrastructure and legislations as the goal was increasing the country's economic competitiveness, attracting new investments, and incentivizing existing businesses to expand. As a result, 1,555 companies injected more financing into expansion in the past fiscal year. Also, the flow of foreign investment exceeded $10 billion.
Be Social
Comments
Leave a Comment