Sisi affirms cement complex as part of Egypt, offers 13K jobs

CAIRO – 15 August 2018: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi said that Egypt is keen to achieve a balance between the public sector and the Egyptian market until the mechanisms of the free market are controlled.

Sisi added during the inauguration of a number of mega projects in Beni Suef that the new cement complex is part of the Egyptian state and not separated from it.

“If we can meet all the demands of the Egyptian market, it will be a great opportunity for us as the import bill will be greatly reduced because we will produce what we need, and we will save a large part of the free currency we consume in importing our supplies,” Sisi said.

The president also noted that meeting the Egyptians' needs is a great opportunity to reduce the import bill, providing hard currency and thousands of jobs for young people.

Sisi emphasized the importance of meeting the environmental requirements in the cement factories in order to preserve the environment.

He pointed out that the extraction of marble in the new complex is carried out using advanced methods to reduce waste.

The new project provides 3,000 direct job opportunities, and 10,000 indirect ones.

Sisi noted that the percentage of waste in the developed countries reaches a range of 5 to 10 percent, while it records 60 percent in Egypt, affirming that it’s not acceptable to waste Egypt's wealth.

"Marble production complexes will be completed in two years in five regions in Egypt, including six marble complexes in the marble city of the Jalala district."

Shaq al-Thaaban

Sisi appealed to the workers of the marble sector in the area of Shaq al-Thaaban to legalize their situation and cooperate with the state to develop the industry, saying: "Workers need to take the necessary procedures to legalize and regulate the organizations, factories and infrastructure of the sector, including plants that treat water that comes out of this industry."

Shaq al-Thaaban is considered one of the biggest places for manufacturing and exporting marble in the world; it includes 1,858 factories and workshops of marble, which comes from quarries of Ras Ghareb, Ain Sukhna, Minya and Jabal Al-Jalala in Suez, Red Sea and Aswan.

New Agriculture Project

During the inauguration, Sisi directed the state agencies and the engineering authority to remove the roads linking the islands on the Nile River and to remove the obstacles on the banks of the river immediately.

“We are developing a comprehensive plan for Upper Egypt's youth in the field of agriculture in Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut and Sohag,” Sisi said.

He also stated that a new agriculture project in four governorates will be announced in one or two months, adding that the government will hand the land to the youth of the four governorates of Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut and Sohag.

Sisi added that a number of major national projects will be opened in the upcoming weeks.

Public Companies

Sisi said that Egypt has more than 120 companies, noting that all obstacles facing these companies will be resolved which should turn them to an economic-added power of the state.

The president stated that the development of the public sector requires LE 150 billion.

He revealed that the subsidies bill reached LE 334 billion, saying that if there was no subsidy bill, we would have completed a number of investment projects in one year, but the bill is necessary to maintain the social balance amid the difficult economic conditions.

As per the losses and the closure of the Cement National Company, Sisi said that despite the loss that the factory recorded, the average salaries range from LE 12,000 to LE 14,000 per month, pointing out that reform is a difficult path and that Egyptians must cooperate to reach success.

The president also referred to floating the shares of the company on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) as a part of solving the difiiculties it faces.

The National Cement Company recorded a net loss of LE 744 million before taxes during the first nine months of fiscal year 2017/2018, compared to a loss of LE 615.6 million during the same period of 2016/2017.

The company’s financial indicators showed a total loss of LE 486.1 million during the same period of the current fiscal year, compared to LE 422.9 million in the nine months of the previous year.

National Mega Projects

Sisi arrived Wednesday in Upper Egypt’s Beni Suef governorate to inaugurate Egypt’s largest industrial complex for cement, marble and granite besides the inauguration of a new production line of Arish cement complex via video conference.

The industrial complex comprises three major cement factories producing 20 percent of Egypt's cement production.

The plants possess a total of six lines sufficient to produce more than 11 million tons of cement per year and more than 37,000 tons per day.

The project took 18 months to be completed on an area of 5 square kilometers. Sisi ordered the construction in May 2016.

The complex provides thousands of direct and indirect employment opportunities, mostly to citizens of Upper Egypt.

Many national and international companies have contributed in constructing the complex.