El Shorouk (Motaheda)

completed

The proposed project involves a construction of a 135,000 tons per annum (tpa) greenfield duplex board plant (the Project) and seeks to utilize the imported and domestic waste paper as one of the main raw materials to produce duplex board. The proposed Project is based on acquisition, refurbishment and relocation of a good-quality second-hand machine from The Netherlands to the Project site in the Sadat City industrial zone, 60 km away from Cairo. The Project will lead to increased recycling of paper in Egypt and is in line with the new IFC Forest Strategy, which supports investments in resource efficient manufacturing. The Project will be implemented by El Shorouk, an operating subsidiary of the National Printing Company (NPC), the largest converter and printing house of consumer packages in the region. NPC currently has two operating companies: El Shorouk Press and Baddar Printing. El Shorouk Press (El Shorouk) commenced operations in the 1960s, and in 1987 diversified into industrial packaging and general printing activities mainly in printing books & magazines; folded carton boxes, corrugated cartons and flex printed paper. El Shorouk and Baddar operate two plants in Obour City, on the outskirts of Cairo and a third plant on the Alexandria Agriculture Road, also on the outskirts of Cairo. In undertaking the Uniboard development, NPC seeks to utilize the domestic waste paper as one of the main raw materials to produce duplex board to meet the growing demand for packaging materials in the region. For the purposes of the Project, El Shorouk will set up a new subsidiary, El Motaheda, which will be majority owned by El Shorouk. The Project will create approximately 200 direct manufacturing jobs and additional employment throughout the waste paper collection supply chain.