Egypt has signed an agreement with China’s Sailun Group to build a car tire plant in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCEZ) with a total investment of $1 billion, according to a cabinet statement. The construction of the plant will take three years. The first phase is scheduled for completion in 2026.
The plant will eventually produce 10 million tires a year, Reuters quoted the government as saying.
The EZSC is a complex of six ports and four industrial zones located along or near a strategic waterway. The Egyptian government has granted the zone special legal and tax incentives. Meanwhile, the country is investing heavily in infrastructure to attract investors to the EZSC.
Masdar (UAE) has begun construction of Azerbaijan’s largest solar power plant with a capacity of 445 MW.
“As part of the project implemented by Masdar, the installation of the first solar panel support for the Bilasuvar solar power plant and construction work in general began on August 12,” according to a statement on the official social media page of the Bilasuvar district administration (in the south of the country). An area of 1,454 hectares has been allocated for the construction of the plant.
“The Bilasuvar solar power plant will make an important contribution to increasing renewable energy production in the country, increasing the share of clean energy in the energy balance, and developing a green energy policy,” the statement said.
As reported, the groundbreaking ceremony for the 445 MW Bilasuvar and 315 MW Neftchala solar power plants took place during Baku Energy Week in June 2024. Both plants are scheduled to be commissioned in 2027.
Once completed, the two solar power plants are expected to generate around 1.7 billion kWh of electricity per year. Their launch will also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 830 million tons per year and lead to annual savings of 380 million cubic meters of natural gas. The total cost of the solar power plants is estimated at $670 million. These projects are being implemented by Masdar in cooperation with SOCAR Green (a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, SOCAR). SOCAR Green’s share in each of the projects is 25%. The Bilasuvar plant will generate 897 million kWh of electricity per year, supplying power to 179,000 consumers (homes) and saving 193 million cubic meters of gas annually.
Prices for construction and installation work in Ukraine in April-June 2025 increased by 5.5% compared to the same period in 2024, the State Statistics Service (Gosstat) reported. According to the State Statistics Service, in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the second quarter of 2024, prices increased in all segments of construction: in residential construction growth amounted to 6.6%, in non-residential – 5.6%, in engineering – 5%. Compared to the previous quarter, prices increased by 1.9%, 1% and 0.7% respectively.
In June-2025 to June-2024, prices of construction work increased by 5.1%, particularly in the residential sector by 5.9%, non-residential by 5.1%, and engineering by 4.7%. Compared to the previous month, prices increased by 0.4%, 0.5% and 0.3% respectively.
According to the results of six months, prices increased by 6.1%: 6.9% in residential construction, 6.3% in non-residential construction, 5.7% in engineering construction.
As reported, in 2024, prices for construction works increased by 7.9% year-on-year, and in 2023 – increased by 15.8% to 2022.
The State Statistics Committee pointed out that the figures are given without taking into account the temporarily occupied territories and part of the territories where hostilities are (were) conducted.
The Northern Mining and Processing Plant (Pivnichnyi GZK, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region), part of the Metinvest Group, is actively working on the construction of a modern hydraulic engineering facility for the thickening of enrichment waste at its technical water and sludge management workshop.
According to the company, the complex will enable the plant to reduce costs and lower its environmental impact by cutting energy and water consumption.
It is specified that Metinvest received a loan of EUR 23.6 million to purchase Finnish professional equipment from Metso Finland for the complex. The loan is provided by the Finnish export credit agency Finnvera. Deutsche Bank is the sole organizer and lender, with legal support from the international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.
The press release explains that the concept of expanding the existing tailings storage facility at the Northern GOK from +165 m to +189 m using tailings thickening technology was approved back in 2015. After developing the project documentation in March 2021, Metinvest announced the launch of one of its largest high-tech projects, which will be managed by Metinvest Sichstal specialists.
Three years later, the facility was scheduled to be commissioned, but the outbreak of full-scale war forced construction to be put on hold.
Metinvest Sichstal Project Manager Vladimir Sidorov noted that a certain amount of work had been completed before the forced shutdown.
“The design was completed, basic and detailed engineering was developed, and calculations were made. We decided on the construction site, set up headquarters there, purchased some of the equipment, and began preparatory work. Directly at the site of the future complex, we had to remove the top layer of soil, which was unsuitable for construction, and replace it with another layer that was suitable in terms of characteristics. It was during this preparatory period that active hostilities began,” Sidorov explained in the statement.
However, a year ago, in July 2024, the company decided to resume construction work, continuing with the earthworks to lay and level the imported soil, and then moving on to the construction phase of the concentration complex facilities. Currently, despite the risks of wartime, builders are working on the pile foundation and grillage, which will ensure the stability and reliability of the hydraulic engineering structure.
“The biggest challenge we are currently facing is the lack of qualified specialists, both engineers and technical workers. This problem is relevant both for Metinvest and for the contractors we work with. After all, a significant number of professionals are currently working not on peaceful construction projects, but on the front lines,” said the project manager.
In addition, the company faces the risk of shelling on a daily basis. To ensure people’s safety, one shelter was installed on the site during the preparatory work, and two more were added when construction began. The company decided to protect itself from power supply problems caused by possible attacks on energy facilities by using generators.
By the end of this year, specialists plan to complete the pile driving and concreting of the foundations for the main facilities of the complex. In the near future, they will also begin installing metal structures for the reverse water supply pumping station, thickener No. 4, and the combined slurry pumping station. The commissioning of the slurry thickening complex will take place in three stages. The completion of work on the facility is currently scheduled for the end of 2027.
“Advanced technology for thickening enrichment waste using safe reagents to separate water from solid particles will allow the enterprise to reduce transportation costs and not increase the area for tailings disposal. This will give us a real opportunity to reduce the cost of concentrate and pellets, increase profitability, and strengthen our position in the raw materials market,” said Dmitry Nepomnyashchy, Director of Capital Construction and Investments at GOK, commenting on the resumption of construction of the pulp thickening complex as opening up new prospects for the Northern GOK.
As reported, Metinvest presented a $189 million waste thickening project at the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) 2025 in Rome. The new complex will reduce the volume of sludge transferred to the tailings pond during iron ore enrichment by 30%. The energy savings will amount to 125 MWh per year.
The project will be launched in three years.
Pivdenny GOK is part of the Metinvest Group, whose main shareholders are System Capital Management (SCM, Donetsk) (71.24%) and the Smart Holding group of companies (23.76%). The managing company of the Metinvest Group is Metinvest Holding LLC.
The business confidence indicator in the Ukrainian construction market rose by 2.5 percentage points (pp) in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the second quarter, to “minus” 32.6%, according to the State Statistics Service (Gosstat).
According to a survey of construction companies conducted by the agency, the assessment of the shortage of current orders improved by 3.6 pp to minus 47%. Thus, 51% of the companies surveyed assessed their current order volume as insufficient, while 45% considered it normal for the season.
Fifty-four percent of respondents expect prices for their services to increase in the third quarter of this year. Only 2% of respondents predict a decrease in the cost of construction work, while 45% do not expect any changes in pricing policy.
According to the State Statistics Service, the companies participating in the survey have orders for an average of six months, which corresponds to the pre-war level at the beginning of 2022.
The statistics agency notes that in the third quarter of 2025, the negative impact on construction will be caused by labor shortages (55.2%), financial constraints (42.7%), insufficient demand (22.9%), and other factors (42.8%).
Twenty-nine percent of the companies surveyed expect a reduction in the number of employees in July-September, while 56% believe that their number will remain unchanged, and 15% predict an expansion of staff.
According to the State Statistics Service, 37% of respondents noted an increase in the volume of construction work completed in the last quarter, while 24% reported a decrease. The survey showed that 99% of Ukrainian construction companies find it difficult to predict the future development of the business situation.
Statistical data are provided without taking into account the territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation and parts of the territories where hostilities are (were) ongoing.
Construction of the Kvartal City shopping and entertainment center has begun at 313 Shevchenko Street in Lviv. The opening is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2027, according to the website of the consulting company Retail&Development Advisor (RDA), which is the exclusive broker for the property.
According to RDA project manager Alina Abramtseva, Kvartal City will be a multifunctional space for the daily needs and leisure of the community, a place for shopping with international and national fashion operators, children’s markets, electronics stores, perfumes, cosmetics, etc.
The property is located directly on the M10 international highway, which connects Lviv with Krakivets on the Polish border. The Lviv ring road is also nearby.
The Kvartal City shopping and entertainment center will have three floors with a total area of almost 50,000 square meters and 20,000 square meters of leasable space. The complex will accommodate 75 stores. There will be an entertainment area for children, a cinema, a large food court and restaurants (2,000 square meters), and, of course, a shopping area with international and national fashion retailers, children’s markets, electronics stores, perfumes, cosmetics, etc.,” Abramtseva said.
An underground parking lot with an area of 8,900 square meters and a multi-level parking lot with an area of 14,600 square meters are planned, with a total of 523 parking spaces.
All the necessary documents for the construction of the shopping and entertainment center have been finalized, preparatory work has been carried out on the site, and construction of the complex will begin in September this year.
