CAIRO: The Egyptian government canceled on Tuesday the fertilizer project which Canadian company Agrium was planning to set up at Ras El-Bar on the northeast coast of Egypt. A cabinet statement said that state-owned MOPCO (Misr Oil Processing Company) would complete a similar project at another site nearby and acquire the shares of Agrium Egypt. "This is a victory for the people of Damietta against the factory and a victory of their struggle through peaceful means. It is also an admission by the government that this area is a tourist area, not an area for industry, Nasser El Emary, head of the popular committee in opposition to the plant told Daily News Egypt. "When the government chose this location, they put the interests of Agrium ahead of the interests of the people of Damietta, and they didn't carry out the necessary environmental studies. The people of Damietta were right to stand against this. Not against investment, but against putting things in the wrong place, he added. The Agrium parent company in Canada had considered writing off the nitrogen plant, currently under construction in Damietta, after the People's Assembly (PA) recommended that it be relocated, in light of strong local opposition to the project which is perceived as an environmental and health hazard. The fact-finding committee commissioned by the PA to investigate the furor also made the same recommendation, though it had cleared Agrium and various government bodies of any impropriety. The 33-page report of the PA committee concluded that there was no indication of any financial or administrative violations by either Agrium Egypt or the various government bodies involved in the project. It added that the environmental aspect of the project had been addressed appropriately and that the only point of contention was the plant's location. The committee had found no evidence of illegal commissions that some newspaper reports alleged were paid by the company to facilitate the procurement of the permits necessary to begin construction. Reuters reported that current world demand for grain and squeezed supplies of fertilizer had boosted prices of crop nutrients like fertilizers to an all time high. Relocating the plant will cost at least an additional $500 million according to figures presented to the fact-finding committee by Agrium Egypt. The third largest nitrogen producer in the world had previously told Reuters that relocation was not a viable option, and thus they would be looking at writing off the whole project. -Additional reporting by Reuters.
