New Suez Canal to Open in August, Egypt Says

By Ahmed Aboulenein

ISMAILIA, Egypt, June 13 (Reuters) – Egypt’s New Suez Canal will open on Aug. 6, its overseer mentioned on Saturday, a undertaking President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi sees as a potent image of nationwide delight and a serious probability to stimulate an economic system struggling double-digit unemployment.

[contextly_sidebar id=”nWaN7ih84sutJ0XVP3Ecl1VTLFA2U92f”]The military started work 10 months in the past on the $8 billion canal, flanking the prevailing, historic 145-year-old waterway and half of a bigger enterprise to increase commerce alongside the quickest transport route between Europe and Asia.

The Suez Canal is a crucial supply of laborious forex for Egypt, notably for the reason that 2011 rebellion that scared off vacationers and international funding.

“The digging and dredging works will conclude on July 15. The opening of the New Suez Canal will be on Aug. 6, according to the orders of the Egyptian people and the Egyptian president,” Mohab Mameesh, chairman and managing director of the Suez Canal Authority, instructed a information convention in Ismailia.

“Once President al-Sisi orders the start of navigation on Aug. 6, ships will be able to go through the canal.”

Mameesh mentioned the brand new canal would scale back navigation time for ships to 11 hours from about 22 housing, making it the quickest such waterway on the planet. The new and previous canals are related by 4 small channels.

Eighty 5 % of dredging works have been accomplished, with 219.3 million cubic meters of sand excavated from a complete of 258 million cubic meters, Mameesh mentioned, including that the brand new waterway could be absolutely secured.

“They are not only digging or dredging works, but also preparing the maritime path to be valid and secure for global navigation. We will not allow any ship to pass unless it has navigational security,” he mentioned.

The present canal earns Egypt round $5 billion per yr, a significant supply of laborious forex. The new canal, which can enable two-way site visitors of bigger ships, is meant to extend revenues by 2023 to $15 billion, Mameesh mentioned.

The authorities additionally plans to construct a global industrial and logistics hub close to the Suez Canal that it expects will finally make up a couple of third of the Egyptian economic system. .

Mameesh mentioned he hopes a regulation designed to ease crimson tape for traders within the new Suez industrial hub shall be enacted this week, including that the brand new canal and the hub initiatives might assist Egypt to understand an additional $100 billion in income per yr. (Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy; Writing by Mahmoud Mourad; Editing by Mark Heinrich)