China’s Guangzhou Goodsense Decorative Building Materials Company is set to build a new aluminium factory in Egypt, according to Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Tarek Qabil, in a statement to local press in Cairo on 22 January.

The estimated $100m project will be developed in partnership with the local/Saudi company, Wellbond, at the Ataqa industrial zone in Suez, said Qabil in his statement.

Qabil also confirmed that the project will be developed on a 16,000 square metre plot of land in the industrial zone.

The factory will be built within the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) that the government has been trying to promote as an industries and logistics hub for international investors.

In late 2016 MEED reported that the ministry of trade said it was planning on reducing the time it takes to obtain industrial licences to 30 days.

The ministry will also take ownership of all industrial projects outside the proposed Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) in order to offer a similar one-stop shop window for investors.