Cairo – Mubasher: Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced the beginning of constructing a petrochemicals complex in Ain Sokhna’s economic zone at an investment cost of $10.8 billion.

The SCA has delivered the project’s land to Tahrir Petrochemicals early March and the complex is set for completion within five years, SCA’s head Mohab Mamish said in a statement.

The project, spanning 5.2 million square metres, is expected to be the largest naphtha cracker facility in the Middle East with an annual capacity of 3.5 million tonnes, Mamish highlighted.

This came on the sidelines of a meeting between Mamish and chairman and CEO of Carbon Holdings Basel El-Baz.

The project is projected to provider around 3,000 direct and 23,000 indirect jobs, according to the statement.