The government of Egypt has announced a plan for the construction of the largest textile and garment city in Egypt which will cover an area of 3.1 million sq. mt. in Sadat City, located in the Monufiya governorate. Trade and industry minister, Tarek Qabil, recently announced the project, which will begin from this March and include 568 factories with a paid-up capital of $2 billion, 87 per cent of which is foreign investments, while the remaining 13 per cent is local investments.

The $2 billion will be pumped in over a period of seven years and the city would provide direct employment to around 1,60,000 people, with a total annual production valued at $9 billion. The city is one of the major projects planned in Egypt and will include all necessary services and a training school on the latest technology in the spinning and weaving industry, said Qabil.

The project will be implemented in five stages and the first phase is planned for 2020 and includes 57 factories with total investments of $230 million. The fifth phase of the project will be completed in 2024. Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi expressed their willingness to participate in financing the project by 50 per cent and that the project implementation period would be reduced from seven years to one and a half years. The number of factories registered in the region were 632 with a total investment of £24.5 billion in the sectors of spinning, weaving and building materials such as iron, steel, ceramics, porcelain, glass, chemical industries, engineering industries such as electrical appliances, automotive components and food industries.