Egypt needs the private sector to implement public projects, Minister of Finance Hany Demian told a Public-Private Partnership Summit in Cairo on Monday, adding that the country has already had significant success in implementing projects in cooperation with the private sector. Many projects could be completed through public-private partnerships (PPP) to “improve Egypt's public services and the country's economic competitiveness,” he said. Demian referred, as examples, to centres for the export of telecommunications services in Cairo's Maadi district and two projects to recycle solid, agricultural, petroleum and hazardous medical waste. Upcoming PP projects include four sports stadiums (to be built in Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada, Marsa Matrouh and Luxor), water refining stations on the North Coast and in Qalyubia, and a wastewater station in Alexandria. All are expected to be fully operational within three to five years. Among the projects announced at the summit were two multi-storey underground car parks in the Sheraton Heliopolis district of Cairo and Abbasiya. All off the projects will be implemented through PPP agreements. “The World Bank has ranked Egypt in the top four for the number of PPP projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region,” said Ashraf Salman, minister of investment. He added that the country has reached this ranking by having a proper regulatory framework, operational maturity, infrastructure and a mature investment climate. He also said that Egypt spent some $22 billion on public-private participation in infrastructure (PPI) projects between 1990 and 2014, while around $105 billion was spent on PPI during the same period in the MENA region as a whole. “ Egypt needs about $45 billion worth of investments from the private sector in the coming period, especially in infrastructure,” Salman said. Regarding the huge investments expected in the Suez Canal Area Development Project, Mohab Mamish, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), said that it welcomes PPP projects, especially since there are advantages awaiting investors in the area. The SCA has received 31 investment requests and is waiting for President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to announce the beginning of the implementation of these in order to start the development of the area, Mamish said. “PPP projects have allowed more investments to be attracted that help directly in raising the living standards of Egyptian citizens,” said Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafi. He added that his ministry is developing PPP projects for an advanced trademark system and an electronic trading record that will help the private sector more quickly access information about trade flows. There are currently some $15 billion worth of joint investments by the public and private sectors in Egypt, according to Demian. The Ministry of Finance plans to execute a total of 20 PPP projects in cooperation with the ministries of communication and information technology, environment, housing and sports.
