CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak inaugurated a number of investment projects in Al Salhiya Al Gadida Industrial Zone in Sharqeya as part of a visit to the governorate last week. The projects, which include ventures in industry, production and services, comprise investments totaling LE 651 million and have created 2,625 new job opportunities. These new investment projects come as part of a larger effort by the government to promote industry and development through a LE 30 billion stimulus package undertaken in November 2008. The stimulus package has sought to ward off the effects of the international financial crisis through investment in infrastructure, industry and job creation. The development of new factories in the Salhiya industrial zone is also part of President Mubarak's long-term plan to carry out the promise to build 1,000 new factories in six years, made in his most recent electoral campaign. According to Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid, 206 factories have been built in Sharqeya as part of this initiative, representing 26 percent of the total program. These plants were built at a cost of LE 9 billion and provided 29,000 new employment opportunities in Sharqeya. Currently, there are also 290 factories under construction in Tenth of Ramadan city, and 175 more being completed in Al Salhiya Industrial Zone. During his tour of Sharqeya, Mubarak presided over the inauguration of a new extension of El Nil Company for Wrapping Materials and visited the premises of the "Build Your Own House project, a government housing initiative projected to benefit 90,000 young people. The president also spoke with Minister of Housing Ahmed El-Maghrabi about the progress of the ministry's new sanitation and water treatment programs in the area. The tour concluded as President Mubarak inaugurated four new sanitation stations worth LE 230 million in villages around Sharqeya, bringing the total number of sanitation projects in the governorate to 10. The government is expected to continue aggressive investment and development efforts well into the next fiscal year in a bid to keep Egypt's economy from succumbing to the effects of the global financial crisis. Rachid has announced plans for a comprehensive reform of Egyptian industry through more focus on exports, the regulation of internal trade, and the introduction of new technology and production standards in various sectors of the economy.
