Peek into ME’s largest fish farm in Kafr al-Sheikh

CAIRO – 18 November 2017: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi inaugurated a number of major projects in Kafr El-Sheikh – 89 miles from Cairo – on November 18, at a total cost of LE 4 billion ($227 million). It is the largest fish farm in the Middle East.

Sisi is also slated to inaugurate a university hospital and two drinking water stations, and he will witness the ground breaking ceremony for the foundation of an industrial zone.

The fish farming project is built on an area of 4,000 acres and will expectedly and periodically produce 2,000 tons of shrimps, 3,000 tons of marine fish and 1,600 tons of river fish, covering up to 70 percent of Egypt’s need of fish.

The quantities of the excavation and drilling works amounted to 16 million square meters, which is six times the size of the Great Pyramid. Meanwhile, the iron rods required for the construction works were estimated at 13,000 tons.

Being an integrated fish farming system in Egypt, the Ghalioun Fish Farm also includes 186 aquarium mollies and tanks, along with a massive fish hatchery.

Major General Hamdi Badin, chairman of the National Fisheries Company, said that the first phase of the Ghalion fish farm will bring close to 5,000 job opportunities, given its location in Kafr al-Sheikh governorate. The governorate is a prime location for illegal immigrants.

The project’s industrial city will include an ice and foam factory, along with one of the world’s largest fish factories, which will have a daily production capacity of 100 tons of processed fish. The fish farm’s feed plant will expectedly produce 180,000 tons annually.

Maj. Gen. Sayed Nasr, governor of Kafr El-Sheikh, said that the new Ghalioun road is about 11km long and 30m wide to connect the fish farm and the neighboring villages with the international coastal road. He added that another 5.2km- long road was also constructed to link it to the Mediterranean coast.