As part of a consortium led by Dar El Handasah on behalf of the Suez Canal Authority, we were tasked with formulating a comprehensive masterplan of The Suez Canal Economic Zone as an international trade and economic hub. CID led two core components of the masterplan - the social and environmental impact assessment and development plan, as well as the development of a marketing and communication plan to support investment promotion of the zone.
We worked collaboratively to design an integrated master plan for the Suez Canal area, a waterway which sees 10% of global trade and 22% of container trade pass through its corridor. We developed a fully integrated approach for the infrastructure of the area, alongside an investment strategy and competitive regulatory framework to harvest the development potential of the Canal without compromising the effectiveness of the existing main zone. We also leveraged on our private sector engagement and communication expertise to integrate a wide array of components (transportation, agriculture, forestry, tourism, environment and so on) into a single, coherent planning framework, dedicated to raising the economic level of the area. We also conducted primary data collection to understand and forecast the socioeconomic impact of the development on the local community with regards to access to services, employment, etc.
Our social development framework was complemented by a trade and investment promotion strategy, which incorporated marketing material for specific phases of the project that not only helped boost investment prospects but were important in gaining broad public acceptance of the project. Our carefully designed communications strategy was the product of extensive urban and socio-economic assessments, meaning that each and every part of our messaging was heavily researched and evidence-based.
The Suez Canal Zone was launched to international investors and high political representatives from multiple countries as a flagship project promoting investment in Egypt, whilst our content appeared across local and global media platforms during the Egypt Economic Forum in 2015 with an estimated value of EGP four million. This is in addition to a robust stakeholder communication program which took place throughout the duration of the project. The implementation of our sustainable social and economic strategy resulted in a number of community capacity building and human development initiatives being established across the region, which resulted in ongoing, new investment and opened opportunities for economic and social development.
