Egypt’s North Sinai Cement will resume operations after a court cancelled a government decision to scrap the firm’s licence. Egypt’s Industrial Development Authority (IDA) removed North Sinai’s licence late in 2009 over start-up delays and financing shortfalls. The firm was granted a 60-day appeal period but failed to meet conditions to challenge the decision. "We will resume production immediately next week. We have won the case and the licence has been returned," said Abdel Hameed Selmy, chairman, North Sinai Cement. North Sinai has one production line, with annual production capacity of 1.8 million tonne. In February, an Egyptian prosecutor ordered the detention of the head of the IDA, Amr Assal, as it probes allegations that he squandered 670 million Egyptian pounds of public funds.