CALGARY // When Agrium, an international fertiliser company, agreed to build a nitrogen fertiliser plant with the Egyptian state-owned chemicals company Echem, the company's Canadian executives thought they had found the perfect project site.
It was a government-designated industrial zone in the Mediterranean city of Damietta, with coveted access to a deepwater port in a country guaranteeing plentiful low-priced gas to industrial customers.
The last thing they expected there was emotional environmental protests, followed by a government inquiry that nearly derailed the US$1.2 billion (Dh4.4bn) project to convert natural gas into ammonia and urea. For a project already 42 per cent complete, cancellation would have been unprecedented. "It was quite a shock to get all our approvals and do everything by the book, and put together a $1bn finance package with lawyers for all the banks, then have this happen," said Don Lauweryssen, the senior director of corporate development and strategy at Agrium.
Problems came to a head in April, when the company was relentlessly attacked in the local press over claims that emissions from the partly built factory would harm the health of city residents and damage the marine ecosystem.
Agrium protested that emissions would be half those permitted under Egyptian law. But by late April, most Damietta homes were draped with black banners reading "No to the factory of death" and thousands of residents had taken to the streets in popular demonstrations demanding that the plant be relocated. Soon the protests spread to Cairo.
"Sometimes there were 10 articles per day in the local press. People were in the street protesting and very emotional, and the government was not prepared to use force to protect our 1,200 people on site," said Mr Lauweryssen. "We held a press conference, but nothing we could say as foreigners would be believed." In June, construction was halted to allow a parliamentary commission to investigate. The commission found the project entirely in order. Nonetheless, Egypt's parliament recommended relocation, and the government said it would comply with the request. Infuriated, Agrium said it would aggressively pursue "full recovery of its costs, equity contribution and future lost profits".
Peculiarly, Damietta was hardly a pristine tourist destination. It had been an industry and trade hub since Medieval times, with well developed textile manufacturing and food processing industries. The port had a gas liquefaction plant and LNG export terminal, and the adjacent industrial zone had been mooted for other large petrochemicals projects.
However, the gathering storm had been presaged by the replacement of Echem's chairman in May 2007.
"To start with, Echem was very keen to work with us. But then there was a change in management and things went sideways," said Mr Lauweryssen. "The former chairman was moving at a speed commensurate with how you would do business in the West. With the new chairman, there was not the same urgency, and [Echem] wanted proof about us being committed to Egypt. It was an incredible amount of work to ratify the most basic agreement."
Worse came when the governor of Damietta, a local power-broker who had been promoting beach developments, declared that the city's industrial area should be re-zoned for tourism. Agrium soon found itself embroiled in a mysterious dispute over military clearance and the target of unfounded accusations of failure to comply with environmental regulations.
A member of Damietta's municipal council took legal action against the company, alleging it had secured approval for the fertiliser plant by paying kickbacks to government officials - charges denied by Agrium that have not been brought to trial.
But just as suddenly as they started, the problems besetting Agrium's Egyptian venture were recently resolved. In August, the government offered a share-swap deal in which the state-owned Mist Oil Processing Company (Mopco), which had recently built a urea plant less than a kilometre from Agrium's Damietta site, would acquire the Agrium/Echem venture. Agrium would get a 26 per cent interest in a new entity that would own and operate the Mopco plant, and expand it by adding two urea production lines, tripling production to 525,000 tonnes a year by 2011.
Keen to avoid protracted international arbitration, Agrium accepted this as "a reasonable second-best alternative". Following the company's agreement to move about 500 metres across a canal, the environmental protests mysteriously died down.
Agrium officials said the experience demonstrated that patience and diligence in working to resolve project difficulties could pay off. But troubling questions remain for Egypt's programme to attract foreign investment. Already, the Damietta protests have spurred imitations, with the local council of Al Matariya, in Cairo, recently blocking an Egyptian Oil Refining Company project.
"The ease with which the government caved in to local pressures is likely to breed doubt in the minds of other prospective investors," the Economist Intelligence Unit wrote concerning Agrium.
@Email:tcarlisle@thenational.ae
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Quick%20facts
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Racecard
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Honeymoonish
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'Avengers: Infinity War'
Dir: The Russo Brothers
Starring: Chris Evans, Chris Pratt, Tom Holland, Robert Downey Junior, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen
Four stars
A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Company%20profile
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Match info:
Manchester City 2
Sterling (8'), Walker (52')
Newcastle United 1
Yedlin (30')
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
