The Egyptian government on Tuesday will sign a new contract for lands in Toshka, southern Egypt, with Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal's Kingdom Agricultural Development Company (KADCO). The new deal will be signed in the office of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf. Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Ayman Farid Abul Hadid said both parties reached a full agreement on the contract's final form. In the deal, 25,000 feddans of lands will be allocated to bin Talal. Ten thousand feddans will be owned by the prince, who will use the remaining 15,000 based on a three-year usufruct system. During the reign of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, bin Talal obtained 100,000 feddans in Toskha at preferential rates, but the contract was annulled by Egypt's judiciary. "No further amendments will be made to the contract, and the government is committed to sign it on the date declared, which is Tuesday. We are not seeking to raise investor's concerns," Abul Hadid told Al-Masry Al-Youm. A package of recommendations has been set to encourage investors to be serious in pumping new investments into major agricultural projects in Toshka, the minister said. The total value of the lands is LE5 million, according to Ibrahim al-Agamy, CEO of the General Authority for Rehabilitation Projects and Agricultural Development. Translated from the Arabic Edition
