Suez Canal Development Project
06/08/2015
Managing Director: Suez Canal Development Project: unprecedented achievement for the Egyptian people. All forms of SFD Support for this national project
SFD Managing Director Ms. Soha Soliman said the inauguration of the new Suez Canal will be a witness not only to the great achievements attained by the Egyptian people in a record time, but also to the beginning of a new era of socio-economic development in the Suez Canal area expected to reach out to all the governorates of Egypt in such a few years. She added SFD, which has played a major role in development throughout the previous 20 years, should contribute with a similar role in the Suez Canal Development Project.
Ms. Soliman said there are many areas of intervention for SFD to contribute to such a national project as the development plan will include several projects working on different axes: paving roads, establishing industrial and service-rendering activities in which SFD will have a major role.
In her statements, Managing Director pointed out to SFD willingness to finance enterprises engaged in numerous activities: maintenance and repair of vessels and fishing boats, fish farming, packaging and transportation vehicles.
Ms. Soliman elaborated that SFD role is not limited to finance but its services are extended to licensing and marketing assistance and within this framework, she voiced willingness to establish a licensing unit and a permanent exhibition for small enterprises within the Canal administrative building.
Managing Director also promised to organize professional training programs on activities required by the labor market and stated that the SFD regional offices in all the Suez Canal governorates have identified investment opportunities in these areas and developed their relevant preliminary feasibility studies.
Over the issue of community development, Ms. Soliman declared that it is a field in which SFD has accomplished a remarkable success that is widely recognized by donor agencies. In this respect, SFD has already coordinated efforts with the different ministries and organs of the State to implement many community development and infrastructure projects in the poorest villages and likewise it can perform similar activities in the Suez Canal area. Managing Director, moreover, proposed to carry out environmental projects relevant to the activities that will be implemented in the area together with public works and infrastructure development projects in the poor villages of Suez Canal area alongside community development interventions in cooperation with NGOs.