Private players in talks to develop USD 2 bn Eastern Desert industrial zone in Egypt

A handful of Egyptian private players are in talks with the government to help set up an industrial zone in the Eastern Desert’s Golden Triangle in Egypt, government sources confirmed to Enterprise after the news was first reported by Asharq Business. The planned industrial zone’s first phase is set to cost USD 2 bn in initial investment, says Asharq, adding that the zone will ultimately cater to the mining, agriculture, trade, and tourism sectors.

Who’s in the running? Egyptian private industrial developers — includingOrascom Construction subsidiary Orascom Industrial Parks, Elsewedy Electric subsidiary Elsewedy Industrial Development, CPC Egypt, and Samcrete’s IDG — have all held meetings with the government about their potential involvement, government sources told Enterprise, confirming the names reported by Asharq. Polaris Parks was also named by Enterprise and Asharq sources, though General Manager Bassel Shoriah told us that the company is not in fact involved. Representatives of Elsewedy, Orascom, and IDG either declined to comment or were not immediately available to do so.

A group project? The government expects to reach an agreement with “several” of the developers in early 2024, our sources said. The developers will be responsible for parceling out the land by sector and allocating plots to investors, they said, adding that the zone has already received offers from companies working in cement, building materials, glass, silicon, rubber, phosphate, and gold refining.

ICYMI- Earlier this summer, the zone received three offers from local and international investors to set up fertilizer complexes worth a total USD 1.6 bn.

What’s so golden about this triangle? Located in the area between Qena, Safaga and Quseir, the 2.2 mn-feddan desert area is thought to hold some 75% of the country’s entire mineral wealth — including reserves of gold, iron, copper, silver, granite, and phosphates. Phosphates are a key component of fertilizer, one of the country’s most lucrative exports.

The economic zone has been years in the making: Plans to develop the Golden Triangle Economic Zone go back further than 2016, when a study conducted by Italian consulting firm RINA(formerly known as D’Appolonia) and funded by the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development estimated the project to be worth some USD 16 bn. In the following years, the state established the authority responsible for the zone and made the necessary land transfers, before the pandemic arrived and stalled investment, government sources told us.