Egyptian industrialists have lodged a formal complaint with the Trade and Industry Ministry over recent delays in the distribution of gas to areas under development, warning that the delays threatened to adversely affect their profits. An official source at Poralis, a Turkish industrial development company with operations in Egypt, said his company had sent a memo to Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid because of supply delays. The company pointed out that, although it had finished most of its construction operations, it was nevertheless facing crisis since state-run gas companies had failed to adequately supply Egypt's frontier regions, which had negatively impacted company investments and profits. Poralis officials say a number of investors had already canceled contracts with the company, which was also facing difficulties in obtaining new contracts, due to supply delays. A number of new factories in the 6th of October and 10th of Ramadan satellite cities have also filed complaints with the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) about their inability to begin production owing to the lack of gas supplies. Nabil Farid Hassanin, head of the Egyptian Chamber of Industrial Engineers, confirmed this, conceding there were "major problems in the distribution of gas in the 10th of Ramadan area." Safwan Thabet, president of the 6th of October Association, warned that the supply delays could end up impeding the ministry's development targets, which depend on pumping LE70 billion worth of investments into the area. IDA officials, meanwhile, say they are working to resolve the problem. IDA Chairman Amr Asal said in a recent statement that meetings with Petroleum Ministry officials were ongoing in an effort to speed up gas distribution to these areas so as to allow factories to commence operations. Asal declined, however, to say definitively when supplies would recommence, noting that the issue was still being studied by Petroleum Ministry officials. Both the Industry Ministry and the Petroleum Ministry signed agreements in 2007 to provide some 1.1 billion cubic meters of gas each year to meet the needs of the local industrial sector, for which the 10th of Ramadan and 6th of October areas accounted for 9 percent. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
