The General Authority For Suez Canal Economic Zone has revealed the full details of the Russian Industrial Zone (RIZ) project in the East Port Said region with total investments $6.9 billion. RIZ would be established on an area of 5.25 million square meters and will be built over three phases within a time frame of 13 years. Mohab Mamish, Chairman of Suez Canal Authority said that it has been conditioned that the 90 percent of the employees will be Egyptians in order to fulfill the goal of creating one million job opportunities at the Suez Canal axis as part of Egypt-vision 2030 strategy. The RIZ will act as a platform for Russian products to enter the Egyptian and African markets. Mamish added that the work on the first phase will start within the current year involving one million square meter square carried out by a Russian developer who will also work on attracting Russian investors and companies throughout 2018 and 2019. the first phase will create 7300 job opportunities in the construction field. The second phase will develop 1.6 million square meters and will be finished by 2022, creating 10,000 jobs, while the third phase will develop 2.65 million square meters and generate 17,000 jobs. The three phases are expected to be finished by 2031, when Russian companies will start operations, providing some 35,000 direct and indirect jobs. Manufacturing air conditioners, motors, construction equipment, glass, ceramics, electronics, medical supplies and plastic are among the industries targeted by the RIZ.
