Cool cargo
EGYPTIAN farmers and exported of fruits and vegetables can expect increased profits with the opening of Cairo International Airport's first refrigerated cargo terminal.
This new facility was funded by the Egyptian government with support from the United States. Prime Minister Atef Ebeid officially opened the terminal on 13 July in a ceremony attended by a group of Egyptian officials and US Charge d'Affaires Gordon Gray.
The refrigerated cargo terminal is expected to raise incomes for Egypt's horticulture industry by reducing the spoilage factor, which claims between 36 and 40 per cent of Egypt's fresh produce transported by air. The Egyptian government funded construction of the terminal by providing a loan of LE12 million loan as well as a LE3 million grant.
The project has also received nearly $5 million in operating support from USAID since 1999. The new facility is open to use by all exporters and will benefit growers within a 200-km radius of Cairo, including Fayoum and the reclaimed farmlands on the Alexandria and Ismailia desert roads.
Another refrigerated cargo terminal is planned for Luxor Airport to benefit growers in Upper Egypt.
Big gas
THE TWO Egyptian state-owned gas and oil companies, Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), are to acquire a 20 per cent stake in the Spanish Egyptian Gas Company (SEGAS), the holding company which owns the natural gas liquefaction (LNG) plant in Damietta on Egypt's Mediterranean shore. SEGAS was previously 100 per cent owned by the Spanish petrochemical company Union Fenosa Gas.
The LNG plant in Damietta is scheduled to come into service in October 2004. At an approximate cost of $1.3 billion, the plant is the largest liquefaction plant currently under construction in the world.
SEGAS and EGAS have also signed an agreement under which SEGAS will liquefy 3.2 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year, delivered by EGAS to the Damietta plant. Since SEGAS also has an agreement with Union Fenosa Gas to liquefy 4.4bcm, the Damietta plant is expected to work at 100 per cent capacity for the next 25 years.
