The Egyptian Carbon Holding Company on Monday signed a US$1.7 billion deal with the Italian Maire Tecnimont and the Dutch Archirodon companies in order to provide services to the industrial complex of the Tahrir Petrochemical company in Ain Al-Sokhna.
The project, which is estimated to provide 20,000 direct and 50,000 indirect job opportunities, is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2015.
Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Mounir Fakhri Abdel Nour signed the agreement with Italian Minister of Economic Development Carlo Calenda.
Abdel Nour said the deal provides for a power station, desalination units and tanks for raw materials, finished products, pipes and cables for the Egyptian company, which undertakes a number of oil and gas projects in Sokhna.
“It is an added value to our economy,” he added.
Abdel Nour also said that the complex is projected to produce 1.35 million tons of polyethylene, 960,000 tons of propylene, 400,000 tons of gasoline and 215,000 tons of Betadine.
“The project is expected to increase Egyptian exports by 25 percent,” he added.
Meanwhile, Calenda said that Italy is the European Union’s number one trade partner of Egypt and the third in the world after the United States and China, pointing out that bilateral trade grew by 8.7 percent last year, despite the circumstances in Egypt.
Carbon Holding Chairman Basil al-Baz said the project needs 46 months for the construction phase and a six-month trial period before going into full operation.
