IDA to issue 1st industrial permit electronically in April

CAIRO – 14 April 2018: The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) will issue the first industrial permit electronically by the end of April, the authority's head Ahmed Abdel-Razek said Saturday.

The electronic issuance comes as the IDA is completing its automation process, Abdel-Razek said.

He said that the Trade Ministry is targeting industrial investments worth LE 100 billion by 2020, for which it facilitated the issuance of industrial permits and expanded in offering industrial lands that will reach 60 million meters by 2020.

In September 2017, international firm Oracle Solution Center (OSC) won a bid to automate the IDA.

The company started the automation process in October 2017 through three stages. The stages are divided into automating procedures of granting licenses of land plots, building licenses and the industrial record.

Investors in Egypt have long complained of lengthy waiting times for obtaining approvals, with the World Bank ranking Egypt 122 out of 190 countries on its 2017

Doing Business Index, partly because of difficulties obtaining permits and licences.
However, a new law issued in 2017, the Industrial Permits Law, reduces the waiting period for obtaining industrial licences to set up new facilities from 600 days to between seven and 30 days

On May 9 2017, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi approved the 15/2017 Industrial Permits Act that aims at easing measures for obtaining licenses for industrial establishments.

The act entails granting investors the needed approvals in no more than one month, instead of a period of almost two years.

Trade Minister Tarek Kabil said in previous statements that 80 percent of the projects will be granted licenses upon notifications, while 20 percent, categorized as “risky” businesses, will have to wait for the approval of the IDA.