The contract for construction of a new phosphoric acid plant was awarded to a Chinese alliance, consisting of Chinese Construction Engineering Company (CSCEC) and Wengfu Group through an agreement signed between the two companies and the Misr Phosphate Company.

The scope of the contract includes the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of temporary facilities on-site, process facilities, utilities, and storage and transport facilities both on and off-site. Another long-term sale contract for about 5,00,000 tonne of phosphoric acid products annually, an equivalent of half of the expected output of the plant, was also signed with China’s Wengfu Group.

The project is scheduled to take about 30 months to completion, in addition to six months of trial operation and production. The project aims to maximise phosphate reserves in Abu Tartur to increase investments in the mining sector and raise its contribution to GDP. Upon completion, the facility is projected to be the second largest phosphorous chemical project in the world.