Tarek El-Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, inspected the land for new petrochemical projects in the industrial zone in the new city of El Alamein.

The land inspected will see the launch of the first phase of metallic silicon, soda ash and its derivatives projects, and other planned projects.

El-Molla stressed, in a statement Sunday, that the strategy to develop and modernize the petroleum sector is clear in its vision, and it included developing existing companies, increasing their production capabilities, and adding new energies and entities that support growth and development plans.

He pointed out that value-added petrochemical projects, due to their great importance in filling an important aspect of the needs of the local market, exporting surpluses and achieving sustainable development goals in the New Alamein region.

The minister pointed out that the year 2023 witnessed the establishment of projects for the first time in Egypt for soda ash products and silicon products.

On his part, Ibrahim Makki, Chairman of the Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company indicated that the land is planned to include the two projects as well as the facilities and logistics services project to serve projects in the region.

Moreover, Walid Lotfy, Chairman of Petrojet reviewed the equipment that Petrojet had made in the projects' land, and its construction of a concrete wall with a length of about 12 km to secure the land, the components of which were implemented in Petrojet's yard in El Alamein.

The soda ash project (sodium carbonate) aims to produce about 600 thousand tons annually, in addition to its derivatives such as light soda ash, heavy soda ash, and sodium bicarbonate, in addition to by-products such as precipitated silica, calcium carbonate, and calcium chloride. The investment cost of the project is about $685 million.

The El Alamein Metallic Silicon Project aims to exploit 130,000 tons annually of ultra-pure quartz ore available locally to produce 45,000 tons annually of metallic silicon as a first stage, at an investment cost of about $172 million.

The project is among the strategic and national projects, and a detailed feasibility study has been completed, and a booklet of conditions and specifications is being prepared for the selection of the general contractor.