Automotive Industry in Egypt
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ข่าวอียิปต์ประจาสัปดาห์ที่ 4 เดือนมีนาคม 2558 1. Housing Ministry requests construction companies build 60,000 residential units The Ministry of Housing, represented by the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA), has requested that construction companies take over the building of 60,000 proposed housing units. The construction of the houses forms part of the social housing project, the “one million residential units “, according to the ministry’s statement Sunday. The units will be implemented in eight new cities, and the actual implementation will start in the next fiscal year 2015/2016. NUCA Vice-President Kamal Fahmi said 10,000 units will be built in 6th of October City, for the benefit of Giza citizens. Fahmi added that another 13,000 units of the project have been completed by the armed forces through a UAE grant in 6th of October City. These will be proposed for reservation during the next month. Fahmi noted that 50,000 housing units will be proposed in the 10th of Ramadan City in Sharqeya governorate, 15th of May City in Cairo governorate, New Damietta in Damietta governorate and Upper Egyptian cities. “In Upper Egypt cities, housing units will be proposed with an area of 70 metres, two rooms and a hall, according to the desire of governors, and will be fully finished and provided with all facilities,” Fami said. “NUCA is moving ahead with the implementation of the one million residential unit project to meet all the low-income citizens’ needs.” Fahmi said proposing small units of space, which will have space for two rooms instead of three, is to reduce the unit’s price on the citizens, which will help reduce monthly payments. He concluded that models will be implemented to make use of the small spaces. The one million residential units project is set to provide new housing units to be constructed within five years. The project will be carried out with investments of up to $40bn, and using 160m square metres. The project is being carried out in cooperation with the Emirati construction firm, Arabtec LLC, one of the largest construction companies in the GCC, and the Ministry of Housing, represented by NUCA. 2. Secon signs 3 contracts to design new real estate The Saudi-Egyptian Construction Company (Secon) signed Thursday three contracts to design new real estate projects on an area of 100 acres, entailing investments valued at EGP 2.5bn. The projects will be built in the areas of New Cairo, New Damietta and New Assiut. Secon CEO Darwish Hassanein said the company consulted three of the leading consulting firms operating in Egypt before signing the contracts. He explained the projects are the result of the recently approved increase in capital to the amount of $243m, added and divided equally between the Saudi and Egyptian governments. Hassanein noted the Saudi government paid its share in cash in January, while the Egyptian government provided about three pieces of land on an area of 100 acres. Hassanein added that the New Cairo project will be for above middle-class housing on an area of 68 acres, and that the design project was won by Sabbour Engineering Consulting. “The New Damietta project will be a tourism project and will be built on an area of 17 acres. Spine Architects, Urban & Environmental Planners won the designing of the project,” added Hassanein. “In New Assiut, a housing project will be built on an area of 11 acres for middle-class housing, and Soliman Consult Office won the project.” He revealed that the company will begin the implementation of the three projects in the next half of the current year. For his part, Sabbour Engineering Consulting CEO Hussein Sabbour said it is a pleasure to be designing the New Cairo project. He added that the three consulting offices chosen for the real estate projects will compete to do their best in the work. Secon is one of the largest companies operating in the real estate market and it is owned equally by the Saudi and Egyptian governments. The company carried out a project in March 2011 with an investment cost of approximately EGP 500m. In addition, it began implementing the Secon Nile Towers project with investments of EGP 1.6bn in 2013. Secon Nile Towers is located in Maadi’s Corniche El-Nile, and is being built on 10,000 sqm with two towers containing 23 floors each. 3. Petrochemicals will be used locally, not exported: Petroleum Minister Maximising the use of petrochemical raw materials and products locally instead of exporting is a priority, Minister of Petroleum Sherif Ismail announced Sunday. Ismail explained during a general assembly meeting with Egyptian Ethylene and Derivatives Company (ETHYDCO) that benefiting from this industry, to establish transformational industries, will realise the highest revenues and added-value to the Egyptian economy. The production of Ethylene and its derivatives in Alexandria zone is the latest Egyptian petrochemical project and “one of the most important” projects in the national plan for this promising industry. The project is currently under construction with investments valued at $ 1.9bn, Ismail said. Ismail also stressed the importance of concluding the project and beginning production by the end of 2015. ETHYDCO Chemical Chairman Abdel Rahman Zaid noted that 86% of the project has been implemented. The petrochemical products provided by the project represent “essential” inputs in several complementary industries especially polyethylene. This is used in the plastic products industry such as plastic bags and boxes, pipes, oils and chemicals containers, greenhouses, medicines and cosmetics container, Zaid added. The designed capacity of the project reaches 460,000 tonnes of Ethylene, 400,000 tonnes of polyethylene and 20,000 tonnes of butadiene. The project will also support the integration policy between petrochemical industries supplying petrochemicals companies with Ethylene material. 4. Travco to invest EGP 3bn in development of 9 hotels Travco plans to establish a number of hotel and tourism projects during the upcoming period as a result of witnessing a growth in Egypt’s tourism sector with investments that total EGP 3bn Chairman and CEO of the company Hamed El-Chiaty said that the recent Economic Summit has plenty in favour of the tourism sector. He added that that the summit is a positive indicator of the Egyptian economy’s recovery, and improves the image of Egypt, as well as providing reassurance to tourists and tour organisers. He added that the time is right for promoting Egyptian tourism using modern methods in order to increase Egypt’s share in the global tourism market, reaching 30 million tourists over the next few years. El-Chiaty said the group would establish two new hotels this year in Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada, to add over 1,000 rooms and suites to its capacity, so that it would reach 10,000 rooms. The work on another nine hotels in the coming period in Sharm El-Sheikh, Soma Bay in Hurghada, Sahl Hasheesh, Safaga and Marsa Alam. He added that the investment cost of the hotels to be established this year has been valued at EGP 750m. Investment income in the sector is good, as El-Chiaty put it, and Egypt has many big tourist advantages which make it active all year long. The country must also take advantage of that to raise the quality of the tourist services offered. El-Chiaty emphasised the company is about to offer a tender for phase II of the Almaza Gulf project on the North Coast of Egypt. This is a housing tourist project extending over an area of 6.5m sqm that currently includes five hotels. When the project is completed, it is projected to include seven hotels of 5 stars and 400 housing units. Travco also aims to develop new standards through building a high-quality tourist resort where tourists as well as visitors can enjoy the unique location in the North Coast, said El-Chiaty. “We are sure that we can develop our economy to reach the level of before, or even better. Obviously Egypt is a country with various tourist attractions,” El-Chiaty added. “Travco group will continue to focus on the Egyptian market. In order to develop the tourism sector, Egypt is dedicating a big amount of investments to improve the infrastructure within the high demand proposed for travelling to Egypt,” he said. “From Travco’s side, the company is working on expanding its activities in the European market, aiming to increase its marketing for Egyptian destinations.” El-Chiaty established Travco in 1979, with the company now considered one of the most important groups for tourism, travelling with the best hotels in Egypt. Travco annually attracts almost one million tourists to Egypt. 5. Armed forces approves height of new investment projects’ lands in Sheikh Zayed The armed forced has approved the allowed height of some lands in Sheikh Zayed City to start the implementation of new projects, according to Minister of Housing Mustafa Madbouly. Madbouly added that this approval is considered the first of its kind in new cities to boost investments. The projects will be implemented by the Ministry of Housing, represented by the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA), in partnership with the private sector. During his visit to the Zayed Crystal Spark site in Sheikh Zayed City, Madbouly said that the project will be built on an area of 190 acres (798,000sqm). It will be constructed in cooperation between NUCA and one of the largest real estate companies. “The project consists of administrative and commercial areas and a central amusement park, in addition to the mixed-purpose Icon Tower,” Madbouly added. “The height allowed for a number of floors of administrative and commercial buildings ranging from 8 to 10 floors, and up to three floors for the entertainment use, while an increase is allowed for the Icon Tower to 49 floors.” Madbouly revealed that a statue of the late Sheikh Zayed Al-Nahyan, the former president of the UAE, had been designed to be placed at the entrance of Sheikh Zayed City.