Talks are currently underway between Egypt's Arab Contractors Construction Company and three Egyptian banks--Ahli, Misr and Bank du Caire--to discuss ways of financing the company's projects in Nile Basin States, Bank Misr President Mohamed Barakat revealed this week. Barakat told Al-Masry Al-Youm that necessary funding would be raised through the Nile Investment Fund, which currently boasts US$150 million in paid-in capital. In a statement, National Bank President Tarek Amer noted that the banks that support the fund were willing to increase the fund's capital if the US$150 were to be exhausted on Nile Basin projects. Arab Contractors President Ibrahim Mahlab, for his part, said that Egyptian banks' assistance in financing the company's Nile Basin projects would allow Arab Contractors to compete with Chinese firms currently operating in the region. According to Mahlab, Egyptian companies are welcome in Nile Basin states since they employ Egyptian labor--unlike Chinese companies, which use Chinese labor. He pointed to the company's plan to soon launch a number of major projects in Ethiopia, including the Addis Ababa airport road project. Mahlab went on to say that, over the course of the next year, the company also intended to increase investments in countries such as Angola, along with the states of the Nile Basin. The company has already completed a number of projects in Sudan, Mahlab noted, such as the US$40-million Al-Bashir Bridge spanning the Nile River. He added that the company also had projects in Southern Sudan, including construction of two schools paid for with a grant from Egypt. Misr Concrete Development Company Chairman Mustafa Nasrat, meanwhile, said that negotiations were ongoing between his company and Bank Misr to provide funding to the SudaneseKhartoum Water Authority for the implementation of the second phase of a water treatment plant. Nasrat told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the project's second phase would cost some US$30 million. According to Nasrat, Egyptian companies have received instructions to step up the number of projects in Sudan and Nile Basin states with a view towards consolidating Egypt's diplomatic relations with these countries. He also said that a low-cost housing project was nearing completion in Ethiopia, while a number of other projects in the area were currently under study. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
