Domestic contractors owed money by the Egyptian government are facing difficulties winning bids for infrastructure projects Qatar is planning for the World Cup, which will be hosted there in 2022.
The contractors have called on the Egyptian government to communicate with Qatari authorities through diplomatic channels to help them get a piece of the planned projects' estimated US$70 billion pie.
“Our government must first pay us our dues in order to be able to invest in Qatar,” said Mohamed al-Serougy, a board member of Mokhtar Ibrahim Contracting.
He said the Egyptian government owes his company LE2.2 billion as of 30 June 2009, forcing it to lower its target investments from LE3.2 billion last year to LE1.8 billion this year. “We need to open more branches overseas,” he said, "but we need to collect our dues first.”
According to officials in the Holding Company for Construction, a mother company for various contractors, the Egyptian government owes some LE5 billion to contracting companies, placing on them a difficult financial burden.
Sayed Taha, a board member of the National Construction Company, also called on the government to help Egyptian companies win contracts in Qatar.
In December 2010, Qatar won its bid to be the first Arab state ever to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022. Egypt, among other Arab countries, has submitted bids to host the World Cup in previous years, but failed.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
