by Maye Kabil
“It is only one of the thousand steps” on the road of developing the country, was how president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi referred to the New Suez Canal in his speech during the opening ceremony held to celebrate the opening of the enlargement work of the historical waterway.
Many projects are yet to come, according to the president, to put Egypt on the right road. The next project on his agenda is Suez Canal Area Development, for which the plans are being put for a whole year. The project includes massive industrial and logistics zones along the canal, aiming to take advantage of global trade and boost employment. It will entail the establishment of an international economic zone encompassing 6 ports, new cities and logistical and trading hubs, in three governorates.
The investments expected in this project exceed $100 billion, according to one of the consultants of the project, which will be implemented in two phases, one from the current year till 2030, and the second till 2045. One million jobs are expected to be created during 15 years of execution.
“The government will immediately start its implementation by developing the part of East Port Said, including the expansion and development of East Port Said harbour and the industrial area. In addition, we will upgrade the area’s infrastructure and link it to other projects,” Sisi said.
Port Said eastern port has a great potential as clarified to members of the media by Yehia Zaki, the director of operations at Dar Al-Handasah, the company that was awarded last year to put the master plan of developing Suez Canal Area.
There’s a global interest in trans-shipment, which means that a mother ship can unload cargoes or containers to smaller ships and those ships head to different ports. The location of the port enables it to play that role.
In addition, the world trade marine movement is showing increasing dependence on the trade of containers, and this is what the plan is focusing on. During the past 10 years, this trade has increased notably and it has future potential worldwide. The placement of the Port Said port is not high, compared to its potential, according to what Zaki told the media.
Developing the eastern port of Port Said includes dredging a 9.5 kilometer long canal that guarantees an independent entrance to the port, without necessarily passing through Suez Canal.
Work on this canal, which the government called the third canal, began directly after celebrating the opening of the enlargement of Suez Canal last week, according to Admiral Mohab Mameesh, head of Suez Canal Authority.
The tools used in dredging and enlarging Suez Canal were already present, so it was a good opportunity to start directly reducing costs, Ahmed Amin the maritime consultant of the transportation minister told Aswat Masriya news website.
Amin said that this work will take 6 to 8 months, and will cost around EGP60 million, 25 per cent of which will be paid by the company that operates the container terminal of the Eastern port of Port Said. However, the government is now negotiating with company to raise its contribution to the cost, especially that the company will benefit the most from this project.
The current capacity of the port is around 2500 vessels, and it will be doubled after dredging works are completed for the port and the newest canal.
According to the general plan of developing Suez Canal area, the project is consisted of three parts, east Port Said, Qantara and Ain Sokhna.
The first one includes besides the port and canal works, new containers terminals, station for ships repairing, and station for vessels fueling. It includes also logistic services, small and medium industrial zone, technological area and a petrochemical industrial zone.
Qantara includes a technological zone, an industrial zone and a new city.
The third area will be depending on three ports, Al Adabia, Ain al-Sokhna and Suez. Bunkering and ship repair facilities are expected to be built at Suez. This part will also include ship repair, fuelling and fuel trading and an industrial zone.
The Petroleum minister said in a statement that his sector will offer several investment opportunities in petrochemicals in the economic zone, south of Suez city. In addition, some projects are being implemented already like enlarging the storage capacity for petroleum products, new projects for Summed company and developing the capacity of Ain Sokhna port to receive petroleum products.
Other projects that were announced last year by the president were mentioned again in his latest speech in the opening ceremony of Suez Canal to be on the country’s priority. These projects include a massive national road network, developing the agricultural sector with the reclamation of one million feddans and building a number of new cities to accommodate population growth.”
