Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly attended the signing ceremony of the contract to establish a Rolling Plus tire manufacturing factory, which will be located in the Sokhna Industrial Zone in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE). The contract was signed by Abdel Nasser Refaei, Managing Director of Main Development Company, and John Barakat, CEO of Rolling Plus Chemical Industries, in the presence of Walid Gamal El-Din, Chairperson of the SCZONE. The project, which will cover an area of 400,000 square meters, will have a total investment of €1bn and a production capacity of 7 million tires annually for passenger cars, light and heavy transportation. The project will be implemented in 3 phases, each with a different production line and target market. The first phase will cost €400-450m and produce 2.5 million automobile tires annually, 50% of which will be supplied to the local market. The second phase will add light transport tires, producing 3.5 million tires annually, 40% of which will be for the local market. The third phase will increase the production capacity to 7 million by adding the heavy transport tire industry. The project is part of SCZONE's strategy to localize the automobile industry and complementary industries, such as batteries, tires, etc. The project aims to meet the needs of the local market and reduce the import bill by using local components and technology. The project will also provide 1,000 direct and indirect job opportunities, within the developer "Main Development Company," the investment arm of the SCZONE. Gamal El-Din said that the project is important for the localization of the tire industry in Egypt, especially with the technical partnership of Black Donuts, a Finnish company that will provide all the technical consultations for the project's designs and stages.
