Industrial Development Authority Chief Ismail Gaber announced they would pass the draft law on giving licenses to establish cement plants to Cabinet within the next few days.
The deal would allow investors to be provided energy in an irrevocable agreement.
The expected deficit in cement by 2022 is expected to reach around 30 million tons annually, Gaber told Al-Masry Al-Youm. He explained that the authority is now studying economic variables in the market to measure the need to fill the gap with new factories.
Declaring projects of the new capital and construction development projects will double the demand for cement, which will pressure companies to establish new factories to meet the demand. Establishing these new factories could take between two to three years, he said. Approving the use of the more pollutant coal in the cement sector could enable the factories fulfill their needs without burdening the government with more loads.
Gaber added that the contract conditions will be reviewed by the State Council to revise them and check possibility of granting the licenses for free or not, especially since the government used to provide the energy in return for the license value.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
