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Once completed, the first of the project spanning Initially started by Mr Daoud’s father to distribute
130,000 acres will be split into 500 rounded plots Caterpillar tractors in the 1960s, there remains
of 120 acres each, growing wheat, grapefruits and a connection to its origins, with one of the
other crops. And progress has been brisk. After company’s subsidiaries being SUTRAC, Sudan’s
only a year into the project, the progress is already only authorized Cat Dealership. So naturally, Cat
more than significant with 50 plots in operation. machines have played a big part in the project.

“Yes, this is the desert, but we are turning it green,” Yasir Elhajj, General Manager at SUTRAC, explains,
says Osama Daoud Abdellatif, chairman of the DAL “Originally, our involvement was to rent machines to help
Group, going on to explain. “We have the Nile, then build the initial infrastructure, but over time, it became
we have many other rivers, we have rain, we have obvious to us that our experience could really add value
underground water, and we have one of the flattest to the project by doing the actual building of the canals
countries in the world,” he says. “Under the layers of themselves. Since then, our involvement has grown, and
sand, there is good soil. So, it’s not exactly difficult. we’ve had to create a new earthmoving and construction
Everything is there. You need to make it grow.” sector within the Rental department of SUTRAC to service
the project. Currently, we have 60 Cat machines on site.”
And the secret to untap all of this is through irrigation. The
way it works is that the Al Waha and Abu Hamad farms You would think that getting that many machines there
draw water from the Nile, just 10km away, which flows would be challenging on its own, but Yasir would disagree.
into 18km of canals. “This is a tough place, and we often “Of course, we’ve experienced many obstacles, but
have sandstorms, but the key is irrigation. If you can make by working closely with the Cat team and by planning
irrigation work, you can make agriculture work,” says ahead, we’ve been able to overcome all of them.”
Nazim Khalil, CEO of Ethmar Agriculture Investment. Naturally, working on such a large job fills Yasir with
pride. “This isn’t just an important project for SUTRAC
In Abu Hamad, temperatures can rise to 48° Celsius and DAL Group, but also the people of Sudan as well,
during the summer, which makes irrigation challenging as once completed, it’s estimated that Project Green
as the water evaporates faster during the day. However, will create 5,000 new jobs in the immediate area.
DAL is one of the few companies with enough financial
muscle and know-how to make such a project work.

Cat Magazine 5