Minister of the Environment Dr Leila Iskandar affirmed her rejection of the import of coal, which is used as an alternative energy source in cement factories. The minister told Al-Borsa that the ministry would announce its final position on the use of coal to the Ministerial Council on Energy within the next month. Iskandar indicated that current scientific studies on the environmental effects and costs of the use of coal would be completed soon. The petroleum and industry ministries seek to use coal as an alternative to natural gas in factories, especially those that intensively consume energy, such as cement factories. She went on to say that her goal is to preserve the environment and protect citizens from damaging environmental effects of the use of coal. Minister of Industry and Trade Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour said in his meeting yesterday with investors of 6 October that Egypt suffers from energy problems and it is necessary to search for alternatives for gas and diesel. He indicated that the use of coal as a fuel for cement factories should be studied, especially since most of the cement factories of the world use it. For his part, Faruk Mustafa, managing director of the Misr Beni Suef Cement company, criticised the rejection of the Ministry of the Environment of the use of coal, despite its knowledge regarding the problems that the factories currently face due to the lack of gas supplies, which has led to a decrease in production capacity. Mustafa added that the objection was justified since coal is the largest polluter of the environment and the countries of the world are currently moving away from using it to generate energy. When coal is burned, its products pose dangers to the environment, workers on the site and to the general population in areas near the factories. There are also high costs for disposing of the waste products, which are poisonous to agriculture. Mustafa affirmed that the issue became more complicated after increasing losses prompted companies to turn to coal for energy generation. He indicated that his company has been operating at only 50% of production capacity for the last six months and a number of other factories face complete closure if this problem persists and speedy solutions are not found. The Ministry of Petroleum suggested that the cement factories use coal as an alternative to natural gas as the country suffers from a shortage. The ministry seeks to provide 500 million cubic feet of gas daily to cement factories. Cement factories have begun to prepare studies for the use of coal. The studies have confirmed that factories require $600m to equip them for using coal. The issue was presented to the ministerial energy panel, in which the Ministry of Energy is responsible for studies on the effects of the use of coal and the Ministries of Petroleum and Transportation are in charge of the rules for its import and circulation.
