Industrial authority reclaims idle industrial land, reopens plots to new investors

Egypt’s Industrial Development Authority (IDA) said it has begun withdrawing industrial land and units from investors deemed “not serious,” with plans to reallocate the plots to investors capable of developing and operating them. 

The government says it wants to stop people or companies from treating industrial land as a commodity to buy and resell for profit, instead of using it to build factories or create production.

The IDA applied the new measure on Sunday, saying in an Arabic statement that it withdrew several unused industrial land plots in 10th of Ramadan City and Badr City, “after all granted grace periods and incentives had expired, and after all legal and administrative procedures had been completed.”

The campaign comes as part of an intensive timeline and an urgent phased plan, which covers all industrial zones across the governorates, regardless of the authorities overseeing them. The next phase is expected to include decisive measures against unused industrial land, the statement added.

In October 2024, Egypt’s Real Estate Registration and Documentation Authority at the Ministry of Justice approved restrictions preventing the sale, transfer, or assignment of industrial land without prior written approval from the Industrial Development Authority.

The move followed concerns that industrial land had become a target for speculation, with some plots being resold at significant premiums rather than developed into factories. At the time,  the additional “overprice” on some 2,000-square-meter plots in 10th of Ramadan City reached 7 million pounds (about $145,000 at the time) , according to an IDA source.