Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin opened a LE 221 million polyester plant of the Artificial Silk Co. in Kafr El-Dawwar, an industrial city and municipality on the Nile Delta near Alexandria. Part of investments at the plant came through a Chinese loan worth LE 91 million while the remaining amount was provided by local institutions, the State Information Service reported. Fabrics woven from polyester thread or yarn are used extensively in apparel and home furnishings. Industrial polyester fibbers, yarns and ropes are used in tire reinforcements, fabrics for conveyor belts, safety belts, coated fabrics and plastic reinforcements with high-energy absorption. The minister opened the plant during an inspection tour of investment projects in northern Egypt. He said that the government plans to pump huge investments into public business sector companies in all parts of the country, noting that the total investments in such companies in Alexandria alone reached LE 777 million in the past five years and that more investments worth LE 188 million are expected to be implemented in the coming period. Mohieldin said that new investments worth LE 20 billion have been funneled into the ministry's public business sector companies since 2004, including LE 6 billion in the current fiscal year. The target is to bring these investments up to LE 6.5 billion in the next fiscal year.
