A Russian firm has offered to form a consortium with Egypt with the aim of investing in the global logistics centre project, Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafy said on Wednesday. Hanafy said in a statement that a Russian holding company has offered, during a Wednesday meeting, to supply Egypt with all the equipment and machinery required for the project. On Tuesday, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi issued a decision to form the executive committee to oversee the global logistics centre project, to be headed by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb. Earlier in October, the government adopted a project to establish a global logistics centre in Damietta for the handling and storage of grain and food commodities. Mehleb announced it as a national project that is of no less important than the Suez Canal expansion. The project will increase the annual capacity of marine trading of grains and food commodities in Damietta port from the current 7-8m tonnes to 40m tonnes, 12m tonnes of which will be for local consumption, said Hanafy, adding that the total amount of trade expected for the multimedia transportation systems for the project is around 65m tones per year. Damietta has been identified as the initial site for the logistics operations, Mehleb said last week. He added that the ministers of planning and supply will be responsible for working on integrated studies for the project. Mehleb pointed out that the total area for the proposed project is 3.35m square metres, of which 0.56m fall within the boundaries of the Damietta Port. The remaining 2.79m square metres comprise a portion of the untapped industrial area northeast of the port and are owned by the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA). On 22 October, Hanafy announced that US-based engineering and construction company Bechtel has expressed its willingness to fund the logistics project and any national project in Egypt, according to a ministerial statement.
