The General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) approved the construction of the new Tarboul Industrial City under the investment zones system last week. The ambitious project, which now awaits the go-ahead from Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli, will be carried out on 26,000 acres in southern Giza near the town of Atfih.
The area had originally been allocated for the construction of a residential extension to Atfih and neighbouring villages, in accordance with an executive order by the Ministry of Housing in 2015. However, as the poor economic capacity of the area would hamper the implementation of the project, the government shifted its approach to developing it into an investment zone that would benefit the area’s inhabitants.
According to statements by CHC Chairman Hossameddin Mustafa Rizk, Tarboul will have around 3,000 factories in different industries and several service hubs, including a “food valley”, a “technology and electronics valley”, a marble building materials city, a textiles and handicrafts city, a plastics and chemicals hub, and a complex for light industries.
It will also feature a dry port, a university area, a research and training centre, a handicrafts training centre, and a warehousing and refrigeration area. Its residential and housing complexes will offer different models, from freestanding homes to flats of different sizes and designs.
According to Rizk, Tarboul includes an area on which industrial investors can build major industrial complexes on plots varying from half a million to two million square metres or small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on plots from 500 to 20,000 square metres.
Permits and licences will be issued through a one-stop-shop system operated by the Tarboul Management Company in Atfih, which will be staffed by representatives of government agencies, such as the Industrial Development Authority, the Ministry of the Environment, the Giza Governorate, and the Civil Defence and the Investment Authority.
The industrial areas have been allocated in accordance with conditions set by the Ministry of the Environment and take into account factors such as wind direction, putting non-polluting industries at the entrance to the city and others at the opposite end.
Source: english.ahram.org.eg
