Building Materials and Construction The Minister of Trade and Industry assured that the government has no intention of entering into the new steel and cement investment projects, clarifying that the new government steel rebar production project is still understudy. Moreover stating that the private sector has been granted the new cement and steel licenses which amount to a total of LE 38 billion. However, the only exception is the new government owned cement plant in Qena with an investment cost of LE 1.2 billion. It is worth noting that the government is targeting 59 million tpa from the new cement plants to supply local demand and export the rest by 2011. (Al Ahram, 05/08/08)