Tobacco stamped, books checked THE EGYPTIAN Tax Authority seems to have shifted interest from tax collection to quality control. The authority is now studying the possibility of stamping tobacco and alcoholic products. At first sight, the initiative is perceived as an attempt to collect additional revenue. However, the authority claims that the main aim is to guarantee the authenticity of these products, to protect the consumer, and to get more information about the taxpaying population in Egypt. "The authority will observe the number of stamps received by each of these factories. It will be impossible to fake the stamps. This will help eliminate products that do not comply with proper industrial specifications," said Fathi Abdel-Aziz, head of the authority's IT sector. Meanwhile, orders have been given to tax officers to unify as well as simplify the basis on which small enterprises are examined for tax collection. Also, tax offices across the country have been requested to speedily complete examining income tax returns from 2004 onwards, after it was found that many returns from then until now have not fully been examined. Highway to prosperity LAST week, President Hosni Mubarak opened the 345-kilometre Sohag-Red Sea highway. The highway, which cost about LE1.6 billion, will make it possible to establish 16 villages on the outskirts of four desert areas. It also allows for reclaiming some 50,000 acres in the area. Mubarak asserted the government's interest in modernising Upper Egypt to make it a major investment hub. He also underlined the importance of carrying out development and service projects in Upper Egypt governorates. The Sohag-Red Sea highway project is financed by revenues of the programme for the management of public business sector assets. Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieldin underlined the importance of the highway for investment projects that would provide for thousands of jobs. He said the highway would help in reviving industrial zones in Upper Egypt and linking them to Red Sea harbours under development, particularly Safaga. Minister of Transportation Alaa Fahmi said there are 26 flyovers along the River Nile from Aswan to Alexandria, noting that work is underway to establish three more in Upper Egypt and one in Kafr Al-Sheikh governorate. Back in business FORMER minister of transport Mohamed Mansour made his first public appearance since leaving office this week at an American Chamber of Commerce in Cairo (AmCham) meeting. Mansour addressed the audience on the experience of having moved from the private sector to being a minister, and back to the private sector again. "As a public official, the responsibilities are much wider in scope," he noted, stressing that being a minister was a very demanding job with long hours and plenty of personal sacrifices. Nonetheless, he said, "I would do it again." Mansour is now back to being president of the Mansour Group.
