The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) has begun settlement proceedings for a factory owned by Bianco Group of Integrated Industries, after the cabinet decided to approve "the issuance of new licences for the company, allowing it to increase its productive capacity for projects to produce steel billet, while maintaining the rights of the state" in its last meeting. IDA chairman Ismail Jaber told the Daily News Egypt: "The company will meet Monday with officials of the IDA to discuss the implementation of a settlement for the factory." "The IDA will amend the licence obtained by the company to allow it to produce steel billet, within the limits of the electrical power currently available to it, which stands at 3.5 MW and will not be expanded to 17 MW, which the company had requested," according to Jaber. He pointed out that "the company will pay fees for the licence amendments, which did not previously include steel billet production. It will also pay a fine as a result of the violation of its current licence." Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb instructed Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour and Minister of Environment Khaled Fahmy, to visit the factory and discuss the problem, after the company published a complaint and a request for the government to help with the reconciliation status, in a daily newspaper. The Bianco factory is located in the Giza governorate and produces iron and steel through Egyptian-Chinese investments totalling up to EGP 500m. The plant does not contain smelting furnaces to support steel billet production, and still lacks the necessary energy capacity to undertake steel billet production as well. An official of another steel company, who requested anonymity, stated: "The Bianco company must pay for a licence to produce billets, which costs between EGP 40 and 60m, just like other companies have."
