A first look at the government’s digital industrial platform: The Industry Ministry launched the first phase of the Egypt Digital Industrial Platform, aiming to shift the industrial sector towards a digital system. Enterprise got a look at the new digital platform, which has been equipped with a wealth of services that are necessary for investment-related decision making and procedures.

The platform provides a number of services, including allocating industrial land for investors through the investment map, receiving operational licenses, as well as an annual follow-up service. It also enables investors to secure industrial land and building permits within just one week, allows the download of the conditions of land plots, shows whether the land is serviced or not, provides options for purchase or usufruct rights, and sets specific prices based on the size of a given land plot.

The launch represents the first step for the platform: A number of other services will gradually be added to the platform in stages, with the ultimate goal of eliminating the need for human interaction in the process of allocating land for industrial use, a source in the Industry Ministry told Enterprise.

The platform currently showcases some 1,124 new industrial land plots across 14 governorates for investors, with varying sizes covering a total area of approximately 8.5 mn sqm across 14 governorates, including Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Monoufeya, Sharqia, Ismailia, Fayoum, Beheira, Matrouh, North Sinai, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, and Aswan. They include land suited for a number of different industrial activities including food, pharma, chemicals, engineering, mining, textiles, and building materials. The land plots will be offered from 1-9 September.

When can we expect additional services to be added? The platform will expand to include a number of services for manufacturers by the end of 2025, including the issuance of licenses, and notifications for different manufacturers’ requests will be obtained so that there’s a comprehensive file for each factory. The platform will also include services for issuing building permits and industrial records, as well as a number of other services.

A step in the right direction: The platform represents a good step towards a full digital transformation to help solve issues with the availability of land plots, making industrial opportunities more available for investors, Alaa El Sakty, vice chairman of the SME Investors Association told Enterprise. El Sakty praised the platform, saying that it also helps investors make investment decisions by allowing them access to different information, procedures, and updated laws.

It’s been a long time coming: The launch of the platform has been long overdue, Mohamed El Bahy, board member of the Federation of Egyptian Industries’ (FEI) tells us, saying that while the state decided to begin its digital transformation around four years ago, the Finance Ministry was the only government body to follow through. Inefficiencies with licensing and procedures for acquiring industrial lands continued to create obstacles for investors, who had to submit land allocation requests months in advance — followed by an additional seven month period to acquire the necessary licensing.

But there’s a lot more that needs to be done: While the industrial sector has welcomed the launch of the platform, its actual impact will only show with the addition of the remaining services, the creation of a smoother user interface for better navigation between pages, and by linking factories with different authorities, El Sakty said, urging the government to draw inspiration from other countries’ experiences with digitization.

Eliminating the need to interact with different authorities and government entities is one of the main demands among investors, El Bahy said. This one-stop-shop model exists in Morocco and the UAE, wherein all required documents are handled and completed as soon as investors submit a request — a model that we’re looking to implement, Industry and Transport Minister Kamel El Wazir said. El Sakty expressed concern that the platform could merely function as a means of showcasing investment opportunities, emphasizing the need for it to also provide real-time technical support services in order to achieve the platform’s primary goal, which is to eliminate the need for any human interaction in the process of land allocation.

E-signatures are among the key demands for the platform among the sector, with El Bahy suggesting that the government follow the model presented by companies like e-Finance in implementing a secure e-signature system through the use of a confidential ID number to access the platform, enabling investors to safely renew licenses, submit offers, and file for requests. The Industry Ministry said in a statement that it will provide electronic documents submission services to save investors the hassle of submitting documents through different government entities, complete with a technical support team to assist investors through the process.

Improved transparency will help bring investors into the sector: Enhancing transparency and improving Egypt’s ranking in the Ease of Doing Business Index will help increase capital flows to the local industrial sector, head of the Importers Division Emad Kenawy told Enterprise. It will also help reduce the time it takes to start a business, which would also improve Egypt’s ranking in different global business indices, he said.

There are more ways to bring foreign investors into the sector: Kenawy also suggested that the Egyptian Commercial Service hold meetings with foreign investors to gauge their needs and data required for them to invest in Egypt, and to then provide the platform’s operators with all the necessary information — a move that would create a link between local and foreign investors, and allow for both local and international agreements to take place as the platform expands its services.

The data from the platform could also be highly useful: The data available on the platform and the requests being submitted could also be analyzed in order to gauge what sectors investors currently find most attractive — which could help the government know which sectors need further incentives for investors. This would help fill a gap in the market currently filled by imports.

Linking the platform to all relevant authorities will be crucial for investors: The lack of linkage with all the possible relevant authorities is one of the main problems in the automated customs system, El Bahy said, contributing to bureaucratic delays — therefore, one of the most important updates to the platform should be the inclusion of representatives from all relevant authorities to help prevent investors from facing problems while attempting to file for requests, he added.

The choices for land allocation and their pricing are among the platform’s main advantages, Samir Aref, head of the Tenth of Ramadan City Investors Association, told Enterprise, calling for more transparency and the addition of multiple options for investors regarding land allocation, so that investors don’t have to allocate a large portion of their capital for land purchase.

Also still needs to be done: Reducing the time for issuing licenses to 1-2 days, transparency over tax regulations, and providing incentives for local manufacturing through reviewing all the different legislation that represent roadblocks for the sector will also aid in pushing the industrial sector forward, our sources agreed.

Your top industrial development stories for the week:

• The cement division of the Federation of Egyptian Industries is in talks with the government to introduce new types of cement that require less coal consumption in a bid to increase the competitiveness of locally produced cement, head of the division Ahmed Shireen Korayem told Asharq Business. Cement prices in Egypt have increased by 20% around EGP 3k per ton since last August, Karim said, chalking up the spike to increased summer construction activity, a focus on exports, and technical issues and production upgrades at some factories.