Egypt and the Korea-Arab Society (KAS) last Tuesday signed a cooperation protocol to build a USD10 billion integrated agricultural city that would stretch over an area of 300,000 feddans in the southeast part of the Qattara Depression in the north of Egypt’s Western Desert, south to the Mediterranean coast.
The protocol was signed by the General Authority for Reconstruction Projects and Agricultural Development, an affiliate to the Egyptian Agriculture Ministry, and the Korea-Arab Society, represented by the Korean Arab Company for Economic and Cultural Consultancy.
The city will include agricultural projects operating according to state-of-the-art technology, also 50,000 smart greenhouses and a number of seawater desalination and solar power plants, as well as projects to produce fodder and cultivate stevia, the healthy alternative sweetener and sugar substitute.
The protocol is a significant outcome of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s visit to South Korea in March 2016, said Agriculture Minister Abdel Moneim al-Banna.
The feasibility study and timeline for implementation of the project will be presented to the Egyptian government in six months time. The city should be fully built by Egyptian workers under supervision of Korean experts, Prime Mister Sherif Ismail said at a press conference following the signing ceremony.
Watani International
20 August 2017