Egypt’s Association of Investors for Small and Medium Enterprises (AISME) is planning to set up an industrial complex for small and medium industries at the Suez Canal Economic Zone  (SCZone), for an investment worth EGP 1.5 bn, ZAWYA reports.

Set to span over an area of 1 mn sqm, the complex will house 1,050 factories. Each factory will be equipped with machinery, and built on an area of 300 sqm, AISME Chairman Alaa El Sakaty told Thomson Reuters Projects.

“The project would be implemented in three stages and completed in three years,” El Sakaty says, adding that the first phase of construction will start within the next three months.

“The factories would be offered on 49-year leases, and factory owners will be provided with product marketing, machine maintenance and quality control services through specialised companies,” El Sakaty said.

The project aims to manufacture about 1,000 products that will include import substitutes, as well as input materials for other products.