The French Alcatel Company has recently signed an agreement with the Egyptian Smart Villages. Under the terms of the agreement, Alcatel will transfer various operation sites situated throughout the region, as well as its main headquarters in the Middle East, to Egypt’s Smart Village. In addition to Alcatel, several other global telecommunication and IT groups have decided to join the village.
The Egyptian government initiated the new Smart Village project, consisting of various IT business parks, in an attempt to promote the country’s high technology industry. The village will be comprised of three parks, located in Alexandria, Giza, and the outskirts of Cairo.
The village is currently under construction on land owned and allotted by the government. In an effort to attract members, taxes will be waved for a period of ten years for participants.
Restaurants, hotels, conference halls, and various financial services will be available in the village, whose planned completion date is in mid-2002. The park is expected to train over 5,000 new IT workers and add a total of $500 million to Egypt’s GDP. — (MENA Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
