Investment Minister Ashraf Salman said the investment certificates that will fund the digging of the new Suez Canal are expected to cover the total cost of digging, which is expected to be around LE60 billion.
The winning consortium that will plan the Suez Canal corridor will finish the scheme after six months, the minister told reporters. "There will not be a monopoly by any company on any activities of the corridor project."
The Central Bank of Egypt and other banks are currently in negotiations to specify the interest rate that will be disbursed on the new canal investment certificates. The rate is expected to be around 3.5 percent.
“The enterprise sector will take part in development projects of the Suez canal through tenders,” he added.
Last week, Dar Al-Handasah was declared as the winning consortium of the general plan of the project.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi launched the parallel 72-kilometer canal project on 5 ِAugust. It is expected to increase the revenues of the channel by 259 percent.
It is also expected to provide one million jobs in new projects on the banks of the canal, including shipyards, container service facilities, car manufacturing and advanced technology industries, wood and textile industries and other projects.
The project is expected to reduce the transit time of ships from 11 hours to three hours and increase the daily number of crossing ships from 49 in 2014 to 97 in 2023.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
