رئيس المنطقة الاقتصادية لقناة السويس: إيرادات 2023-2024 بلغت 8.245 مليار جنيه

Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, met this evening at the government headquarters in New Alamein City, Walid Gamal El-Din, Chairman of the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone, to review the results of the fiscal year 2023/2024, as well as the most important developments related to the economic zone.

During the meeting, Walid Gamal El-Din reviewed the financial position of the Suez Canal Economic Zone, noting that the zone’s revenues for the fiscal year 2023-2024 amounted to EGP 8.245 billion, including revenues worth EGP 5.932 billion denominated in dollars, equivalent to 72% of the total revenues.

Gamal El-Din explained that the revenues of the Suez Canal Economic Zone include the revenues of the Sokhna Port, the East Port Said Port, the West Port Said Port, the Adabiya Port, the Arish Port, and the El-Tor Port, in addition to the revenues from usufruct rights, financial investments, desalination plants, and other sources of revenue.

Meanwhile, Walid Gamal El-Din stressed the importance of integration between the components of the special economic zones, which include ports, industrial and logistics zones, reviewing in this context the impact of this integration on the revenues of a number of economic zones in neighboring countries.

He pointed out that the Authority’s revenues jumped, at the end of the last fiscal year, to about 8.5 billion pounds, compared to 2.76 billion pounds during the fiscal year 2016/2017, which represents an increase rate of 205%.

The Chairman of the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone moved on to talk about the results of the promotional efforts during the fiscal year 2023/2024, indicating that the total contracts concluded in the industrial zones during the fiscal year 2023/2024 amounted to an investment cost of $5.116 billion for 218 projects, of which 98 projects with an investment cost of $2.225 billion received final approval, while initial approval was given to 120 projects with an investment cost of $2.891 billion.

Gamal El-Din said that more than 25,000 direct and indirect job opportunities will be provided upon completion and operation of these projects.

The Chairman of the General Authority of the Suez Canal Economic Zone added that during the past fiscal year, the number of final approvals issued for projects amounted to 98 approvals for projects with an investment cost of $2.891 billion, compared to 59 final approvals for projects worth $1.99 billion during the fiscal year 2022/2023.

He added: The port projects within the Suez Canal Economic Zone, during the past fiscal year, amounted to 7 projects at a cost of $1.359 billion, compared to only two projects during the fiscal year 2022/2023, at an investment cost of $30 million.

Gamal El-Din pointed out that the issued capital of 89 companies that contracted for projects in the industrial zones of the Suez Canal Economic Zone during the last fiscal year amounted to 2.646 billion pounds, 110.5 million dollars and 300 thousand euros, explaining that 47.2% of these companies came with foreign investments from countries (China, India, Turkey, the Emirates, Germany, South Korea, Japan, France, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Syria, America, Greece and Jordan).

He added that the activities of these companies include manufacturing various household appliances, electrical appliances, assembling water mixers, manufacturing chemical cosmetics, establishing customs warehouses, manufacturing metal kitchen supplies, manufacturing sheet metal, tin and stainless steel products, manufacturing paint and chemical industries products, crushing and grinding limestone and marble, producing fruit and vegetable juices and jams, manufacturing active ingredients for medicines, manufacturing bearings and ball bearings, manufacturing metals, manufacturing household products and cookware, extracting metals from black sand, manufacturing carpets, textiles and ready-made garments, manufacturing car tires, establishing special investment zones, manufacturing plastics, manufacturing various types of feed, manufacturing chemicals, manufacturing furniture and wood, producing meat products, and maintaining, operating and installing all types of pumps.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the General Authority of the Suez Canal Economic Zone reviewed the developers’ expansions in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, noting in this regard that the industrial developer “Orascom Industrial Zones” is developing a new industrial zone on an area of ​​3.3 million square meters within Sector “A” in the industrial zone in Sokhna.

He also referred to the expansion project of the industrial developer TEDA-Egypt to develop a new industrial zone with an area of ​​3 million square meters within the main development company area within Sector B of the Sokhna Industrial Zone.

Mr. Walid Gamal El-Din also presented a number of new projects in the region, including the Saint-Gobain project for the production of flat glass in the industrial zone in Sokhna, with investments of $175 million, noting that it is planned to operate in the first quarter of 2026.

He also referred to the project of the Chinese company Shen Shen for cast iron pipes to establish the first phase of producing ductile pipes within the land of the industrial developer Teda Egypt with investments of $145 million, to cover the needs of water lines supplies, wastewater, seawater desalination, heating and other areas for community development, new expansions and new cities in Egypt, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and other regions.

He also reviewed the distribution of Chinese investments in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, noting that they amount to about $2.9 billion, and these investments are concentrated in the TEDA and Qantara West areas, through 155 industrial, logistics and service companies.

Mr. Walid Gamal El-Din also presented the status of green hydrogen and its derivatives projects in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, noting that the Authority has signed 29 memoranda of understanding with a number of international companies, including 15 framework agreements signed with expected investments of $133 billion and 8 valid memoranda of understanding.

He also reviewed the plan for establishing the green hydrogen and its derivatives complex in the Ain Sokhna area, which includes a water desalination plant, a liquid casting station, and a tank station, as well as the plan for the green hydrogen and its derivatives complex in the East Port Said area.
Regarding the economic zone’s efforts to enhance the efficiency of the green hydrogen and its derivatives program, Walid Gamal El-Din pointed out that the global company OCI was granted a permit to practice the activity of supplying ships with green fuel, at East Port Said Port, after the successful implementation of the first operation to supply a container ship with green methanol, affiliated with the Maersk shipping line, at East Port Said Port, on August 18, 2023, which is the first operation of its kind in Egypt, Africa and the Middle East, as the container ship was supplied with 500 tons of green methanol, which is the highest quantity compared to supplying the same ship with green methanol at its previous stations in other countries on its journey from Asia to Europe, passing through East Port Said Port in Egypt.

He pointed out that meetings were held with a number of major international companies operating in the field of industries feeding the green hydrogen industry and its derivatives (electrolyzers, solar panels, wind panels and turbines, membranes and equipment needed for water desalination plants) to attract their investments to the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

He added that a memorandum of understanding was signed with the Dutch port of Rotterdam (as the central port responsible for trading green hydrogen and its derivatives at the European level), to enhance institutional cooperation in the areas of transition to a green economy, and raise the efficiency of seaports, through the exchange of technical expertise, and the implementation of a number of joint training programs.

He explained that an agreement was reached with the Dutch port of Amsterdam to sign a framework agreement to conduct a joint assessment of the technical and commercial feasibility of establishing a corridor for liquid hydrogen and its derivatives to link the ports of Sokhna and East Port Said, which are part of the Suez Canal Economic Zone, and the port of Amsterdam, reaching Germany.

Regarding the supply of ships with traditional and green fuel and marine services, Mr. Walid Gamal El-Din pointed out that the number of ships that received supply until 6/30/2024 reached 1491 ships, with fuel quantities approaching 950 thousand tons, noting in this regard the proposed project of “Anti-Pollution Egypt”, which aims to provide a solid and liquid waste collection service within the logistical services provided to ships crossing the Suez Canal in the waiting areas at the northern and southern entrances to the canal, in addition to establishing a factory to recycle waste (solid – liquid), according to international standards and specifications and quality, safety and environmental requirements and the application of the International Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Ships.

During his presentation, Walid Gamal El-Din addressed the executive position of the development and infrastructure projects at the ports, noting that the comprehensive plan for the development of West Port Said Port is being implemented, which includes the project to develop and dredge Abbas Quay with a length of 675 meters, the project to establish the information infrastructure – DATA CENTER, the project to establish the fire, sewage and rain drainage network, as well as the installation and operation of detection devices under cars, and other works in Passenger Hall No. 2, and raising the efficiency of gates and control towers, stressing that the implementation rates are recording high rates, and it is expected to be completed within the next few days.

The Chairman of the General Authority of the Suez Canal Economic Zone added that it is proposed to implement a project to establish a parking lot for trucks within the comprehensive plan to develop West Port Said Port, in a way that contributes to solving the problem of congestion of trucks entering and exiting West Port Said Port inside the port and on the main roads, organizing the movement of vehicles and creating an integrated plan for electronic linkage between the electronic system inside the port and the external parking lot for trucks, in addition to achieving economic feasibility and added value for the services provided in West Port Said Port, and increasing productivity in the coming years.

During the meeting, Walid Gamal El-Din noted that re-operating the Egyptian-Turkish Ro-Ro line will contribute to facilitating the passage of Egyptian exports to Europe via Turkey, especially agricultural products, and increasing the volume of transit trade between the two countries via their ports to access European, African and Gulf markets. It also activates the role of transporting goods/containers by multiple means using the indirect transit system via Egyptian ports, roads and logistical corridors to place Egypt on the global trade route map, similar to the logistical linkage project between the Authority and Europe via the Middle East region, in addition to achieving an increase in dollar revenues for the Egyptian state.

The Chairman of the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone addressed the executive position of developing East Port Said Port and the industrial zones, explaining that this project has achieved high implementation rates for its various components, as well as the executive position of the Arish Port development project, which has been completed by 100% of its 250-meter-long sea berth, as well as the eastern protection, the eastern barrier with a length of 250 meters, in addition to the main barrier with a length of 1250 meters. During his speech, he also moved on to the executive position of the Adabiya Port development project, as well as the Ain Sokhna Port development project.

Walid Gamal El-Din referred to the proposal to establish an industrial zone for the BRICS group.

The Chairman of the General Authority of the Suez Canal Economic Zone referred to the efforts of digital transformation and digital platforms, which would contribute to facilitating and easing various procedures, and providing more services to investors, pointing in this regard to the executive position of the Sokhna Logistics Center project, as well as what is related to launching the digital platform “E-Tabadul” to support Egyptian industry.

During the meeting, the Chairman of the General Authority of the Suez Canal Economic Zone stressed the interest in the training file, and the cooperation taking place in this regard with a number of parties, referring to the Egyptian-German Academy for Vocational Training (Siemens), which contributed to training and qualifying 5,500 technicians and engineers over 4 years, as well as the agreement to implement the vocational training center in Ain Sokhna in cooperation with the Chinese side, in addition to the El-Sewedy and Banque Misr Technical Academy, which is being established, through which new curricula and training programs are made available in the fields of technical and vocational education and training, most notably the field of energy, green hydrogen and other fields, with the aim of providing qualified and trained technical workers to support new investments in Ain Sokhna.