The infrastructure of six industrial zones in Qena and Sohag governorates will be developed and rehabilitated over two years, the Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Qabil announced on Saturday. This plan goes under the "local development for Upper Egypt governorates" programme which is being conducted with the help of the World Bank with funds up to $500m. Qabil said there is "full coordination between the ministries of industry, international cooperation, and local development to put it into action" to align with the government's vision. A general meeting was conducted by Qabil with World Bank officials who should be putting the plan into action, along with the executive director of the Industrial Modernisation Centre (IMC), representatives of the aforementioned ministries, and architect Ahmed Taha. This meeting was to assess the industrial zones in order to measure the current level of infrastructure and the quality of services provided to investors in these areas, Qabil said. Four of these industrial zones are in Sohag and two in Qena. Additionally, Qabil and the World Bank officials agreed to determine performance indicators and steps to take. They are also looking for the workforce needed to supervise the programme. Additionally, they are looking into the government's ability to acquire the expertise of the World Bank in order to implement the best plan to manage these zones for the development of basic services. By deciding on the priorities of investment according to the competitive edge of each governorate, this will eventually help attract investors and entrepreneurs alike. Creating more industrial and specialised projects in these zones that are fully equipped for different sectors of any industry, will subsequently give more incentives to investors, Qabil said. This will, in turn, create more employment opportunities by improving the current industrial zones and increasing the percentage of occupancy for industrial projects that will eventually attract more local and foreign investments, Qabil said.
