Liquid gas on line

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AFTER last week's referendum President Hosni Mubarak this week shifted attention to development matters, reports Reem Nafie.

On Monday Mubarak inaugurated a natural gas liquefaction project in Damietta, 200 kilometres north-east of Cairo.

The $1.3 billion factory has the capacity to produce 7.5 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year, most of which will be exported. As part of the inauguration ceremony Mubarak gave the go-ahead for the first consignment of liquid gas to be shipped to the US.

"The Damietta petrochemical complex accounts for the bulk of Egypt's gas liquefaction production capacity," said Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi. Its output capacity, Fahmi continued, "paves the way for Egypt to enter the club of natural gas producers".

During his visit Mubarak also opened a new bridge built over the River Nile. The Damietta bridge, the Nile's longest fly-over, connects Sinai and the Suez Canal with Daqahliya and the western Delta.

Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, accompanying the president along with 10 ministers, said the project was part of the government's ongoing programme of infrastructural development.