The factory, with a design production capacity of 1.5Mta of cement, will produce clinker within 28 months and cement within 30 months, it said in a statement.
The shareholders in El Nahda are four state-controlled companies -- National Cement and Arab Contractors with 30 per cent each, and Holding Company for Chemical Industries and Insurance Holding Company with 20 per cent each.
In 2007 El Nahda paid 83 million Egyptian pounds ($15 million) for the government licence to build the plant.
