Airport City phase I with $15Bln investments

The Minister of Aviation, Abdel Aziz Fadel, to Amwal Al Ghad

Egypt opens its arms for investment in the aviation industry and is launching the first phase of the ‘airport city’ project the beginning of 2014.The ministry is aiming to get 416 million dollars in loans from international institution to complete the Sharm El Sheikh Airport.

The Minister of Civil Aviation, Abdel Aziz Fadel, stated in his interview with Amwal Al Ghad that Egypt is on its way to achieve a breakthrough in the field of civil aviation especially that the conditions in all industries can sustain new investments. The ministry is currently working on developing several projects that will achieve a breakthrough in the field; the most prominent project is the ‘Airport City’, which the first phase of will be launched in 2014 and is aiming to attract 15 billion dollars in investments. The ministry is also working on renovating and improving three major airports, which are Borg Al Arab, Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh airports.

The minister stated that Airport City is considered to be an economic project that will elevate Egypt’s civil aviation to a world-class industry; the cost of this project will range from 60 to 70 billion dollars and it is one of the ministry’s top priorities that it aims to complete on several phases starting from 2014 and to be concluded in 2035. Airport City’s first phase will be completed in the upcoming 8 years.

The ministry is currently finalizing a set of infrastructure projects will serve all airports and increase the institution’s efficiency. Fadel notes that the loans received by the ministry reached 17.5 billion pounds, besides all loans received by different government institutions.

He added that the ministry is currently looking into a set of solutions that would solve the dilemma of investment in the aviation sector and acknowledged the importance of a strong and stable private sector that would support industries to develop and grow. The ministry is planning to cooperate with African nations and markets seeing that they are rising markets for industrial development and growth.

Fadel gave an example for African-Egyptian cooperation in his interview with Amwal Al Ghad; Egypt air is cooperating with the Ghanaian company, CTK, in order to increase civil aviation activity between Egypt and West Africa; Egyptair and CTK representatives announced that the plan of this cooperation is completed and the operational phases are about to start.

He mentioned that negotiations with international monetary institutions, such as the World Bank and the African Bank for Development, are taking place in order to loan Egypt 416 million dollars to complete the Sharm El Sheikh airport project and that the industry is negotiating the possibility of funding the renovations of Borg Al Arab Airport. These negotiations have been stalled by the reduction of Egypt’s international credit rating as well as the high investment risk factor that political unrest triggered.

Fadel discussed the ministry’s dedication to start the Airport City project, which is considered to be one of the biggest national projects to be implemented by the government, where it would offer over 100,000 direct and indirect job opportunities. He announced that the design and planning stage of the project is now complete and it will be presented to international and national investors in the beginning of the upcoming year.

Regarding the loans obtained by the ministry, the minister assures that the amount of loans does not matter but what matters is the industry’s ability to reimburse the loans; stating that regardless of all the risk factors and credit rating status of Egypt, all international monetary institutions trust the Egyptian civil aviation industry. He concludes by mentioning that the loans obtained by the ministry’s companies are long-term loans that will not be reimbursed in the near future but that the ministry is committed to pay back on time.