Lieutenant General Engineer Kamel Al-Wazir, Minister of Transport, received at the ministry’s headquarters in the New Administrative Capital, a delegation from the Czech company Skoda headed by the company’s president, Didier Pfleger, to discuss joint cooperation in the field of overhaul, rehabilitation and maintenance of railway tractors and cooperation in the field of localization of the spare parts industry necessary to raise efficiency and rehabilitation And maintenance of old Henschel tractors at the Railway Authority, in the presence of the head and leaders of the National Railway Authority of Egypt.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Minister of Transport confirmed that it comes within the framework of implementing the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to localize the transport industry in Egypt, including feeding industries and spare parts for railway moving units in accordance with international standards through cooperation with major international companies specialized in this field to benefit from Its experience and the modern technology it uses in this field and the transfer of knowledge and technology to Egyptian engineers and workers.
The Minister of Transport stressed that this signing is an important step in implementing the directives of the President of the Republic to localize heavy industries in Egypt, including the manufacture of mobile units and their spare parts, according to the latest methods, through cooperation with major international specialized companies, as well as within the framework of implementing the directives of the political leadership to maximize the participation of the private sector. In all projects, including transportation projects.
The discussions revolved around joint cooperation in the overhaul and rehabilitation of 280 railway tractors (Henschel and ADTRANS) in addition to a long-term maintenance and spare parts contract for a period of 15 years, where the final agreement was reached on all technical and financial items related to this cooperation in preparation for the signing of the contract between the two sides in early June.
The agreement included that all work be done in the Al-Tebbin workshops in Helwan, by Egyptian labor and under the supervision of experts from the Czech company Skoda, with a commitment to rehabilitate and overhaul the first two tractors in the Czech Republic, then rehabilitate and overhaul the tractors from the third to Tractor No. 140 in the Al-Tebbin workshops, with a local component of 40. % and the rehabilitation of tractors from tractor No. 141 to tractor No. 280 in Al-Tebbin workshops, with a local component percentage of more than 50%
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As for the maintenance of the tractors, it was agreed that the percentage of the local component in it should not be less than 60%, and it was also agreed that the Czech Skoda would establish a training center in the Al-Tebbin Railway Workshop, in which the tractors will be rehabilitated and maintained, in order to transfer knowledge to Egyptian engineers and workers and train them on All kinds of modern technology in this field, in addition to sending engineers, workers, and technicians from various disciplines to the Czech Republic for a year to train on modern technology, and to form trained cadres to train workers and technicians upon return, and to transfer expertise to them.
It was also agreed between the two sides that within the framework of cooperation with the Czech company Skoda in the localization of the manufacture of spare parts for railway tractors in cooperation with local manufacturers and investment in the localization of this industry to meet the needs of the local market, which contributes to the provision of hard currency and encourage the local product and create job opportunities for young people And to meet the needs of the local market and expand exports abroad, so that Egypt will be a major industrial base for the production of all kinds of spare parts for railway tractors.
The Minister of Transport stressed: We are racing against time to localize all transport industries in Egypt, and this approach is the approach of all Egyptian government ministries, including the Ministry of Transport, where everyone applies the slogan “No import from abroad” and supporting national industries by all means, indicating that no new contract will be made from now on to purchase tractors. Or railway, subway or monorail vehicles from outside Egypt, especially with the implementation of the Ministry of Transport for a comprehensive plan to localize the industry of mobile units of various types and the industries feeding them in Egypt through cooperation with major international companies specialized in this field.
Source: masrawy
