Hassan Allam Utilities + Agility to build logistics parks: Hassan Allam Utilities has formed a joint venture — dubbed Yanmu — with regional warehousing and industrial developer Agility to set up and operate logistics parks in Egypt, the companies said in a joint press release (pdf).

The parks will offer storage and distribution warehouses to companies operating in sectors including e-commerce, manufacturing, consumer products, food and beverages, tech, automotive, energy, industrial goods, healthcare, and pharma, the release reads. They will incorporate sustainable features including solar rooftops. The facilities will offer lower carbon footprints, lower energy costs, and a 35% space savings compared to traditional warehouses, a company exec told us.

Hassan Allam will project manage and build the parks. Hassan Allam Construction will build the parks under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, Hassan Allam Holding co-CEO Amr Allam told Enterprise. Hassan Allam Holding subsidiary PGESCO will act as the project management consultant, he added.

The first park: Yanmu East Logistics Park will be located on the new Cairo Suez road close to Cairo International Airport and the Ring Road. It is expected to open by August 2023. It will cost some USD 100 mn to build and will be jointly financed by the two partners through a mixture of debt and equity, Agility said in a disclosure (pdf) to the Kuwaiti stock exchange.

A data center tie-in: Yanmu will also develop data center campuses at its warehouses, tying in with the MENA-wide data centers project Agility launched last week. Yanmu East will include a data center featuring 25 MW of IT load, Allam said. Readily available energy will cut delivery time for international data center developers, who have significant appetite for green power at data centers. Egypt is well-positioned as a data center hub given our geographical location and the multiple subsea cables crossing our borders.

Tenants are already lined up: Hassan Allam Utilities has already secured long-term lease agreements with local companies for 50% of the first park’s warehouse space, Allam told us. The park’s design will save on average 35% of the space required by traditional warehouses to store the same amount of goods, he added.

The second park: Yanmu West Park is set to launch in 2024 at a yet-to-be-finalized “strategic location,” Allam said.

More to come: Yanmu is eyeing further locations in the Nile Delta and Upper Egypt, and is also considering building “export facilities from key ports,” he added.

Both firms are active in our logistics sector: Agility last year said it would invest USD 60 mn to set up and operate two customs and logistics services hubs in Ain Sokhna and East Port Said in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. Hassan Allam Utilities signed EGP 4 bn in final contracts alongside Orascom Construction and Samcrete to together build four warehouses for grain and other basic commodity storage for the Supply Ministry.