Three companies have requested for General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) approval for two renewable energy projects and one tourism project in Sharm El-Sheikh, said GAFI Chairman Hassan Fahmy. The investments are expected to be injected into the tourism expansion project and exceed EGP 1bn, Fahmy added. Fahmy said that the number of companies established during the first three quarters of the fiscal year (FY) 2013-2014 was 4,500, with companies founded this FY expecting to reach 8,000. Local companies established during the first three quarters of FY 2013/2014 represented 80% of the total, with the remaining 20% being foreign. GAFI hopes that the Ministry of Justice will issue a bankruptcy law during FY 2014/2015 that will help Egypt attract investments in the near future, Fahmy said. Fahmy believes the investment climate in Egypt at the moment requires legislative amendments as well as higher quality labour which would enhance the quality of the final product. "Egypt suffers from much administrative bureaucracy, as well as problems with high land prices paid to industrial developers," said the Chairman of the Egyptian Federation of Investors Associations, Mohamed Farid Khamis. According to Khamis, the price of land obtained by industrial developers in Egypt exceeds EGP 1000 (approximately $140) per metre, while in other countries this figure does not exceed $100. In other nations like Turkey, the charge is $3, while in China, usufruct costs merely $0.25. Egypt aims to inject investments of EGP 337bn into the plans with EGP 206bn from the private sector, and EGP 131bn from state coffers.
