Producers and experts in the textile industry said the establishment of a Chinese textile city in Egypt will severely harm the debt-ridden local clothing manufacturing industry, which operates with dated equipment and machinery.
Mankai Textile Industrial Park will contain 592 factories, making it one of the largest specialised industrial zones in the country.
To expedite formal procedures and speed the project’s implementation, its oversight was transferred from the Industrial Development Authority to the New Urban Communities.
“The beginning of May will see the start of the pilot operations of the Chinese industrial city’s first-phase factories,” said Egyptian Minister of Commerce and Industry Amr Nassar said.
He added that Sadat City, 90km north of Cairo, was chosen as the site of the Chinese industrial park, which will cover 3.1 million sq. metres. It is expected that all phases of the project will be completed within four years.
The Egyptian Army Engineering Corps has completed the first half of the initial phase of the project, covering about 600,000 sq. metres, for 150 factories. It will employ state-of-the-art spinning and weaving technology.
Former Minister of Industry Tariq Qabeel, who last year signed the agreement establishing the Industrial Park, said the value of the total production of the project, once it is operating at full capacity, will be approximately $9 billion per year.
