Egypt: Work in Toshka Project Not to Be Suspended

All companies that are reluctant to reclaim the feddans they have bought in the project were warned by the ministry that their feddans will be confiscated if they did not go ahead with cultivation, Dr Ali Ismail, head of the Egyptian Agricultural Development Authority, said. "We are also waiting for the results of the tripartite committee that was formed last month to conduct a report on performance rates in the project since it was launched and until now, Ismail said.

The committee includes officials from the agriculture, irrigation and finance ministries. El-Mamlaka, an agricultural development company owned by Saudi Prince Walid Bin Talal, has only cultivated 2,000 feddans and around 75,000 feddans were withdrawn from it, he said.

The UAE El-Zahera company has laid down a timetable to reclaim 25,000 feddans as a first stage as part of an agreement with the ministry to reclaim 100,000 in four stages, he added.