Singaporean company Hyflux, along with Japanese industrial giants, Mitsubishi Matoto, and Toyota Tsusho have started feasibility studies for power plants and water desalination facilities in East Port Said, Egypt.
The collaboration followed the companies’ signing of a memorandum of understanding with the recently established Suez Canal Economic Zone, reported Daily News Egypt. Desalination and other infrastructure opportunities are said to be attracting investors.
In an interview with the newspaper, SC Zone chairman, Ahmed Darwish, is reported as describing the East Port Said region as the SC Zone’s “rising star” receiving the “highest number of requests for investment due to its vital location”.
Desalination features among the chief investment opportunities in the region owing to its lack of local water sources and its distance from the Nile River Darwish is reported to have said and to have added: “The SC Zone has opened the door for all international and local companies to establish infrastructure projects in the region.”
Darwish is reported to have said industrial projects in the region will not be able to start for two years as the soil is too soft to build on. The soil is to be treated at a possible cost of EGP 25 billion (US$ 3.2 billion). New technologies are under evaluation which could reduce the cost according to Daily News Egypt.
Russian and Spanish groups were reported to have committed to multi-billion euro industrial projects in the region over the coming years.