What Egypt is doing to boost its transport infrastructure: Over the past decade, the state has embarked on an extensive plan to develop and modernize transport infrastructure in a bid to facilitate logistic services across the country and leverage its strategic location that intersects with many international trade routes to enhance its trade competitiveness.

How much are we talking? The government has made massive investments in the transport sector over the past ten years and has plans to invest another EGP 1.5tn between 2024 and 2030.

Our logistics performance in comparison to others: Egypt ranked 57th globally and seventh in the Arab world on the World Bank's Logistics PerformanceIndex2023. The index measures the ease of establishing supply chain connections and the structures that make it possible — namely the quality of logistics services and trade and transport-related infrastructure.

WHY IT MATTERS-

Transport infrastructure is a key pillar of sustainable growth, it attracts investments and facilitates trade and commerce, according to a World Bank blogpost. “Companies often choose locations based on access to well-maintained roads for efficient trade and transportation,” the post read.

Better infrastructure will help us fulfill our ambitious exports targets: Upgrading its transport and storage infrastructure will help Egypt make the best of its trade agreements with African, Asian, and European nations and boost exports in the process, Elsewedy Electric CEO Ahmed El Sewedy told Enterprise. These trade agreements “can help ensure access to markets, reduce transaction costs, and increase transparency,” according to the World Bank.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE-

We need more industrial and logistic zones: As of 2022, there were 147 state-developed approved industrial zones and 17 private-sector developed industrial complexes in Egypt. Plans are underway to double the country’s industrial zones by the end of the decade, with plans to have 32 industrial complexes by 2030, seven of which will be set up between 2023-2024.

More are on the way: The government has prepared a list of sites in 11 cities it plans to offer to investors to establish public freezones in a bid to attract foreign direct investments and boost exports. The list includes land plots in 10th of Ramadan, New Alamein, Sadat City, New Borg El Arab, New October, New Obour, New Sohag, New Beni Suef, New Aswan, New Tiba, and Capital Garden City.

Companies are already lining up for a piece of these zones: The General Authority for Investment and Freezones has already received offers from a number of companies looking to set up shop in these freezones. The offers came from manufacturers of electric cables, plastics, ready-made garments and textiles, electric vehicles, and water pumps production.

The Madbouly government plans to build 60 logistics zones by 2030, with these split into zones to service the governorate they’re set up in and other zones to service surrounding governorates. The plan entails setting up eight zones to service the governorate in which they’re established, three of which were currently in the execution phase, in addition to 52 zones to service surrounding governorates, with 11 of these currently being built, as of July.

Seven new logistic corridors in the works: The Transport Ministry is working on seven new integrated logistic corridors to connect production areas with seaports, or to link Red Sea ports with their Mediterranean counterparts, the ministry said in a statement this month. The ministry’s plan also seeks to serve urban communities via railway or a road network that pass by these corridors’ dry ports and logistic zones.

These corridors are spread across various parts of the country:

#1- The Sokhna-Alexandria corridor passes through the 10th of Ramadan dry port and logistics center and will be connected to the rail network through the Robeiky-10th of Ramadan-Belbeis railway line. It will pass by the 10th of Ramadan industrial zone, Cairo, then the 6th of October Industrial Zone, its dry port, and logistic zone, before reaching Alexandria Port.

#2- The Arish-Taba corridor will pass through heavy industries zones in central Sinai.

#3- The Cairo-Alexandria corridor kicks off in Bashtil, passing through the Sadat and the 6th of October dry ports and linking them to the railway network via the Bashtil rail line and ultimately to the Alexandria Port.

#4- The Tanta-Mansoura-Damietta corridor serves the agricultural production areas in the heart of the Nile Delta and industrial zones in Menofia’s Quesna, Tanta, Kafr El Zayat, El Mahalla, and Mansoura and links them to the Damietta Port via rail.

#5- The Gargoub-Salloum corridor passes through the logistic zone east of Salloum — a village that sits along the Egyptian-Libyan border. This corridor aims to increase trade between Egypt and Libya.

#6- The Cairo-Aswan-Abu Simbel corridor will pass through a number of dry ports and logistic zones — including New Fayoum and New Sohag and agricultural areas in Toshka, East Owainat, and Abu Simbel.

#7- The Safaga-Qena-Abu Tartur corridor starts in the Safaga Port on the Red Sea and the logistic zone in Safaga.

Egypt has made significant progress in overhauling its road network, plans for more: The length of paved roads in Egypt increased by nearly doubled over the past ten years, exceeding 130k kilometers by the end of 2023, compared to about 66k kilometers in 2013, according to data from state statistics agency Capmas.

Big plans ahead: The government wants to increase the length of major roads by some 50%over the coming six years to reach a combined 10.5k kilometers. It also plans to enhance connectivity by constructing 34 new corridors across the Nile River and 1.2k overpasses, compared to the 13 corridors and 1k overpasses built during the 2014-2023 period.

Your top infrastructure stories for the week:

  • Gov’t setting up two solar plants with EU funding: The Madbouly government unveiled its plans to build two solar power plants for the state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) worth over EGP 1 bn to be financed by a grant from the European Union.
  • New hotel incoming: Arabia Group subsidiary Arabia Hotels has kicked off construction of its USD 220 mn Fairmont Sun Capital Hotel overlooking the Giza Pyramids.
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