Maritime (Alexandria) Committee
Concession agreements
AmCham's Maritime Committee, chaired by Hisham Helmy, hosted a
meeting on concession agreements in Alexandria on March 19. Guest
speakers Mohamed Abdel-Latif, legal manager of BP Egypt, Ismail
Mubarak, vice-chairman Amiral Corporation, and Philip Littlejohn,
managing director, Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT), spoke to
attending businessmen and government officials on the topic.
Abdel-Latif explained the present concession agreement as one that
involves several parties: the Egyptian government, represented by
the minister of petroleum; the companies submitting the bids; and
EGPC/EGAS, which review the bids. EGPC drafts the concession agreement
for the State Council, Shura Council and People's Assembly for ratification
before it is signed by the above-mentioned parties.
Mubarak explained to attendees that several projects are taking
place in the Sokhna port, whose strategic location makes it an ideal
business and industrial zone. Among these are: the Sugar Refinery
Project, to produce refined sugar for the Egyptian market; the Sokhna
Port Tank Farm, an integral part of the Sokhna Port Master Plan
Project, whose facilities will be used for storing, handling and
mixing of petroleum and other products as well as bunkering activities
to vessels in the Red Sea; and the Methanol Project, which is set
to build a new methanol refinery.
Finally, Littlejohn highlighted the SCCT's experience with its concession
agreement, where the Egyptian government is providing all marine
infrastructure, access roads and railways up to the boundary of
the terminal. SCCT, on the other hand, has designed and constructed
the terminal, including civil works, paving and all the utilities
and roads/railways within the terminal area. The concession period
is 30 years with an option to extend the agreement.
Top
|
