CAIRO, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian government signed on Saturday a contract with a petrochemical corporation to establish the largest petrochemical complex in the Middle East at the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone).
The complex will be located in Ain Sokhna district of Suez province, with an estimated investment of 10.9 billion U.S. dollars, official MENA news agency reported.
The contract was signed by Mohab Mamish, head of the Suez Canal Authority and the SCZone, and Basil al-Baz, CEO of Carbon Holdings .
Established in 2008, Carbon Holdings introduces itself as a Cairo-based privately owned company that operates midstream and downstream petrochemical projects running in the SCZone.
Funded by international institutions, the petrochemical complex project is set to comprise 11 factories on an area of 5 square km and to create about 48,000 job opportunities, according to MENA.
It is estimated to be completed for at least 41 months.
The Suez Canal Corridor development is one of Egypt's mega national projects that the country counts on to attract foreign investments and boost economy after years of slowdown.
In late May, the Egyptian and Russian governments signed in Moscow an agreement to build a Russian industrial zone on an area of 5.25 square km in the SCZone, with investment estimated at 7 billion dollars.