Upper Egypt Investment Project Work Reviewed 

Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieldin met with representatives of the General Authority for Roads, Bridges, and Land Transport (GARBLT), the National Co. for Construction, El Nasr General Contracting Co. (Hassan Allam), the Upper Egypt Investment Co. (UEICO), and Upper Egypt Red Sea Co. for Investment & Development, to follow-up on the executive work completed on the Upper Egypt-Red Sea road project.

The meeting was attended by the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) chairman, Ziyad Baha Eddin, and chairman of the General Authority for Investment (GAFI) chairman Osama Saleh.

They reviewed the developments in the project's various sectors, which reached 94.91% of necessary ordinary digging works, 92.34% of the total rock digging, 71.23% of filing-up works. The project is executed in accordance with international standards of safety and security and supervised by the Transportation Ministry.

Minister Mohieldin said studies are underway to kick off the development of investment projects for the road through different systems of participation to increase the Egyptian investments in developing Upper Egypt. These projects include:

- 54,000 acres for agricultural extension projects. Studies are exploring the required water resources in coordination with the Ministry of Irrigation whose technical committee said the studies should be completed by the end of Nov.

- Two tourism and environment service zones covering an area of 9200 acres.

- Two Special Investment Zone System zones covering an area of 113,000 acres.

- Three dry ports covering an area of 750 acres.

- Metallic and mining industries compound covering an area of 250 acres.

- Agro-industrial compound covering an area of 100 acres.

- 11 clusters in an area of 2 million m2.

- Plots of land on the roadsides, as wide as 150m, past the road reserve – their total area is 27,000 acres to be used in investment development projects.

National Co. for Construction chairman, Ahmed Assayed, said Hassan Allam Co. had doubled the labor and equipment for quicker completion of phase one of the road. It provided 901 pieces of equipment, including bulldozers, mashers and tipcarts and increase the project workforce to 5232 (engineers, administrators, technicians), out of them 3453 workers are from Upper Egypt, who represent 66% of total workforce.

GARBLT's chairman, Tariq el Attar, said work was underway to make the Safaga-Qena a two-way road until the Upper Egypt-Red Sea crossroad, at a length of 40km.

Hisham Arafat, a Hassan Allam consultant, reviewed the corridor project of the Abu Teeg-Sahil Selim Bridge, above the Nile, which spans 3.75km. It would connect the Cairo-Aswan eastern road to the two Cairo-Aswan agricultural road and the Cairo-Aswan western desert road.

The project is a bridge above the Nile with a span of 840m, a 360m overpass above the railway and the western agricultural road, the free crossroad bridge on the eastern road, 200m long, and two surface bridges on al Farouqiya Canal, 75m long.

Minister Mohieldin has confirmed that Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif has approved the allocation of LE 125 million to finance the construction of the bridge at a total estimated cost of LE 275 million. This sum is part of the government investments allocated for infrastructure projects. The bridge will be established by Hassan Allam Company under the supervision of the Ministry of Transport.

Within the framework of following the UEICO's efforts to develop investments in Upper Egypt, Amr Hosni, UEICO Managing Director, has reviewed the company's activities since its inception in September 2007. He added that the company's paid-up capital increased from LE 10 million to LE 100 million. Moreover, the UEICO, in participation with the private sector, carried out several projects with total investments of LE 243 million, including LE 87.5 million by the company.

These projects included the establishment of the Upper Egypt Company for Real Estate & Touristic Development, which equipped two floating hotels in Assiut and Sohag governorates, and established a new hotel in Balina, Sohag. In addition, it contributes to a financial leasing company, which has provided funding for 30 small industrial projects in Fayoum, Assiut and Aswan.

The company also contributes to the establishment of Upper Egypt Plant for Frozen Vegetables at an investment cost of LE 85 million. Furthermore, it contributes to the Upper Egypt Company for Educational Services, which is currently establishing three schools in Menya, Assiut and Sohag respectively. The company's investments have contributed to providing some 1260 new job opportunities, Hosni added.