The Industrial Development Group (IDG), an industrial arm of Egypt-based construction firm Samcrete, will sign an agreement to develop an industrial zone in East Port Said port within the first quarter. The agreement will be signed with Suez Canal Economic Zone Authority (SCZone), said IDG's managing director Sameh Attia. IDG is a shareholding company with joint Egyptian - German - American investments; 80 percent of which is Egyptian capital, while 70 percent of that is Samcrete investment. Attia told Amwal Al Ghad that Samcrete's IDG is the first Egyptian-based firm to take part in the development of the East Port Said region, after SCZone had already tasked the firm with undertaking the infrastructure works of the industrial zone there. IDG has started the implementation of infrastructure works as part of the East Port Said industrial zone development scheme, waiting to sign an official contract, the Egyptian official added. Upon the anticipated contract, Attia said IDG is set to develop East Port Said's industrial zone on a space of 4 million metres square. By mid 2016, IDG plans to offer lands on spaces ranging between 3,000 and 100,000 metres for ten factories, through concession contracts valid for 49 years and to be renewed for additional 25 years, he added. East Port's industrial zone is expected to allure several investors worldwide, notably from North European countries, IDG official said. It will encompass areas for heavy and packaging industries. Last November, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi launched the East Port Said port development project in Port Said, giving the starting signal for digging to begin on a side channel to be used in the project. The implementation of the large sea port on the eastern side of the city is part of the overall Suez Canal Axis Development Project. The new port will include industrial, logistics, and residential zones as well as one dedicated to fish-farming. A road tunnel will also be built under a channel to the south of the city. The new channel will be 9.5 kilometres long, 17 metres deep, and 250 metres wide and the total cost of the project will be $60 million, according to a statement from the SCCT. The side channel in East Port Said, near the Suez Canal aims to speed up shipping and allow ships direct entry into the port by the end of June 2016. The new channel dredging will cost $36 million, of which $7.5 million will be financed by the Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT), Mohab Memish, head of the Suez Canal Authority, said. The SCCT is 55 percent owned by APM Terminals, part of Maersk Group.
