INVESTMENT WATCH- Carbon Holdings expects to break ground by June 2018 on its USD 10.6 bn Tahrir petrochemicals complex at the heart of which is “Egypt’s first naphtha cracker and will produce different types of petrochemicals used to make various consumer and industrial goods, according to Reuters.” Tahrir Petrochemicals will be built in the Suez Canal Economic Zone and is being funded by development finance institutions from the US, Germany and the UK, with talks to be concluded and building started by June. The firm already has projects that have started production: a polypropylene plant and a mining grade ammonium nitrate plant. Expectations are for Tahrir to create 50k jobs once it ramps up operations and will help “double Egypt’s exports within one year of coming online after its five-year construction,” the newswire says. Tahrir CEO Basil El-Baz told Reuters the project will spend at least USD 1.5-2 bn of the project budget on goods sourced in Egypt. El-Baz said the company is also eying a potential stock market listing, but offered no further details.

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