North Suez, Feb. 16 (BNA): The head of the Watercourse Management Authority said that Egypt is working to improve the Suez Canal by providing an additional 10 km of accessible distance in two directions with the expansion and deepening of another 30 km. Tuesday.
The head of the Suez Canal Authority, Osama Rabie, said at the first press conference on the expansion, which began in June, that expanding the entire length of the waterway connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea would be very costly.
However, the two-way segment would lengthen to 85 kilometers (53 miles) from 75 kilometers, he said.
Global shipping was disrupted last year when one of the world’s largest container ships was stuck in the southern section of the 190-kilometre canal for nearly a week.
Rabea was speaking on Karak north of Suez, about two kilometers from where the container ship, Ever Geffen, stopped last March. He said the expansion, which was due to start in January, accelerated after the crisis.
The main objective of the work is to increase traffic safety. Once completed, Rabie said, according to Reuters, the transit time to pass through the canal will remain around 11 hours.
The second phase of the project consists of expanding the 30-kilometre-long section extending south to the mouth of the canal by digging 40 meters on its eastern side. This part, where the permanent given is grounded, will also be deepened by six feet.
“This is a difficult part of the canal,” he said, adding that “the deepening and widening will smooth the bends in the canal at that point,” and reduce the influence of the south wind.
He explained that the cost of the project is three billion Egyptian pounds (191 million dollars), to be completed and opened by the end of June 2023.
Separately, Rabie told CNBC Arabia on Tuesday that the authority is considering listing the shares of some of the companies it owns on the Egyptian Stock Exchange, and that it expects to sell 20% of its stakes in two or three companies, namely Canal Rope, Canal Harbor and Great Projects. .
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