Cairo – Mubasher: The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Danieli, an Italian metal manufacturing company, to build an iron and steel plant in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone).

The plant will be built on SCA-owned land for the Suez Canal Company for Iron and Steel, which is currently under establishment, and will produce reinforcing steel at a production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes, Mohab Mameesh, SCA chairman, announced in a statement.

Slated for completion by the end of 2017, this project represents the cornerstone for heavy industries in SCZone, Mameesh added.

The plant would be built in two phases; the first involves a rolling line, whose production capacity will reach 600,000 tonnes 19 months after plant operations begin.

The second phase of the plant entails another rolling line along with continuous smelting and casting. This stage will come seven months after the first, Mameesh revealed.