Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli and Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr met Tuesday with Jamal Al Ghurair, Chairman of Al Ghurair Group, to discuss the company’s agricultural investment in Egypt.
During the meeting, Al Ghurair briefed Madbouli on the developments in the company’s industrial agricultural investment project in West Minya, which is based on the reclamation and planting of 180,000 feddans with sugar beet and other vegetable and fruit crops. The project includes the establishment of the largest plant in the world that is designed produces sugar from beets, which will bridge the gap between production and consumption of sugar in Egypt in the long term.
According to Nader Saad, a spokesman for the Cabinet, Ghurair said the company has drilled 80 groundwater wells and is in the process of drilling 200 other wells.
The company is also considering increasing the area of land to be reclaimed and cultivated as the feasibility studies on the project were promising, he said, pointing out that the company will start farming the first 25,000 feddans for the project in the months of September, October and November.
Al Ghurair also discussed other projects the company intends to spearhead in Egypt, including the establishment of a grain station at Damietta port with an unprecedented storage capacity as well the development of river transport in Damietta.
Madbouli praised Al Ghurair Group’s investments in Egypt and Ghurair’s desire to increase the area of agricultural land to be reclaimed, provided that necessary groundwater to cover the project would be available.
Madbouli instructed concerned authorities to coordinate with company officials on the river transport and grain storage projects.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
