IN A SURPRISE move this week Mohab Mamish, head of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), was appointed head of the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) for a year, replacing Ahmed Darwish who has held the post since November 2015. Mamish will continue to head the SCA while also overseeing the SCZone, which covers an area of over 600 square km and includes six ports within its boundaries. The government is targeting its development as a logistics hub and industrial centre. When appointed a year-and-a-half ago Darwish was hailed by many. Efficient and having a scientific approach was how economic expert Hani Tawfik described Darwish, adding that the decision to replace him with Mamish was a “disaster” since the post needed someone with economic expertise. Mamish has a military background. Darwish was keen to create a conducive environment for investors and was a proponent of a lower tax rate within the SCZone, believing that lower taxes were needed if the zone was to compete with similar ones in Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong. Before the law governing the zone was amended, it subjected projects to a 10 per cent tax, but now they are liable to taxes of 22.5 per cent, the same rate as elsewhere in Egypt. The decision to appoint Mamish to replace Darwish came four days after the SCZone had released a performance report for 2016. This was seen as negative because it had highlighted the challenges facing the project, among them the high taxes on projects in the zone. Other challenges included Egypt's low ranking in the World Bank's latest Doing Business report, complicated judicial procedures, and problems related to foreign exchange. The report also underscored the absence of the needed infrastructure to develop the area. The decision to replace Darwish was preceded in January by a presidential decree transferring the affiliation of the ports of East Port Said, West Port Said, Ain Sokhna, Al-Tor, Adabiya and Arish from the SCZone to the SCA. People close to the SCA said the reason for the decision was that Darwish lacked expertise in maritime transportation and Suez Canal administration.
