President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has urged the establishment of the largest industrial polyethylene complex in the Middle East in Upper Egypt in order to cover the local market needs of industrial components in many vital sectors and cut imports.
El-Sisi made the remarks in a meeting on Monday with Director General of the military’s National Service Projects Organisation (NSPO) Walid Abu El-Magd, Chairman of the military’s National Contracting Company General Karam Salem, and Taha El-Gammal, an engineer from the private sector.
The planned complex is expected to largely contribute to the production of industrial requirements in many sectors, including digital transformation, modern transport, and infrastructure, Egypt’s Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement.
The complex will produce all materials of fiber optic cables, contribute to the modern transport sector through the monorail and the high-speed train, and provide around 35 percent of industrial needs for the infrastructure of Haya Karima (Decent Life) project instead of importing them.
The Decent Life project was launched by President El-Sisi in 2019 with the countryside development phase initiating last year in July to develop its infrastructure, health, educational, and institutional sectors in a few years. The initiative targets 58 percent of Egypt’s 102-million population who live in 4,658 villages across the country.
The polyethylene complex will comprise six main factories operating in various sectors related to polyethylene derivatives and will include 30 production lines for 1,000 different products.
This will help secure foreign currency by reducing dependence on importing, the statement said, noting that the products of the complex will conform to European specifications and will be internationally approved.
The complex will also open export horizons, especially for African countries that have free trade agreements with Egypt, especially COMESA countries.
Moreover, the complex will have a special department for training and technical education and will provide thousands of job opportunities for the people of Upper Egypt.
Over the past years, Egypt has worked on localising industry in various sectors, including the automotive industry, health, transport, technology, energy, and infrastructure in cooperation with international partners while benefiting from the global experiences in this regard.
Through the localisation of industry in the vital sectors, Egypt seeks to cover local needs and become a promising regional centre for the export of products to African and international markets.
Late last month, El-Sisi urged the reliance on local components as much as possible in implementing the Decent Life initiative projects amid disruption in global supply chains due to the Russia Ukraine war.
The president also reviewed with Abu El-Magd and Salem projects implemented by the NSPO across the nation.
In this regard, El-Sisi urged comprehensively developing the area of Shaq El-Thoban in Cairo and providing it with all services so that it becomes an integrated industrial city for marble and granite.
The president also met with the Chairman of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority Hisham El-Suweify, where he urged concerted efforts among the state’s sectors to increase reclaimed agricultural land in the Toshka project in Aswan, Upper Egypt.
The president also urged the development of the irrigation system and cultivation means that are commensurate with the nature of the Toshka region.
A number of land reclamation projects in Toshka have been inaugurated by the president in December last year, reportedly the largest of their kind in the Middle East to achieve self-sufficiency in wheat, an Egyptian staple.
