Egypt to inaugurate Suez canal expansion on Aug 6

ismailiya — Egypt will inaugurate a “new Suez canal” shipping route on August 6 aimed at speeding up traffic along the existing waterway and boosting revenues, officials said Saturday.

Dubbed the Suez Canal Axis, the new 72-kilometre (45 mile) project will run part of the way alongside the existing canal that connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. It involves 37 kilometres of dry digging and 35 kilometres of expansion and deepening of the Suez Canal, in a bid to help speed up the movement of vessels.

“The digging and dredging operations will be completed on July 15, Suez Canal Authority chief Mohab Mameesh told reporters in the canal city of Ismailiya.

A ceremony will be held on August 6 to inaugurate the project, he said, but it is not clear when the canal will be effectively open for business. Mameesh said 85 per cent of the project has been completed so far. It was not immediately clear when the canal would be effectively open for business.

President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi had launched the project in August 2014 and had set an ambitious target of digging the new canal in one year. The project is part of an ambitious plan to develop the zone around the canal into an industrial and commercial hub, that would include the construction of ports and provide shipping services.

“The entire project is Egyptian... the idea, the planning, and the funding... the project will once again put Egypt on the world investment map,” said Mameesh.

Authorities raised $9 billion (€7.9 billion) to build the new canal by selling shares in the project to domestic investors, with private Egyptian companies tasked with its construction. The new canal is considered a “national project” that aims to kick-start an economy battered by years of political turmoil since the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak in 2011

Built 146 years ago, the Suez Canal is one of the world’s most heavily used shipping lanes and has been a key source of international trade, earning Egypt billions of dollars in annual revenues.

The new canal is expected to more than double Suez revenues from $5.3 billion (€4.7 billion) expected at the end of 2015 to $13.2 billion in 2023, according to official estimates. —