CAIRO: A group of investors from Saudi Arabia have submitted a proposal to finance and construct a new railway line connecting Aswan to the Sudanese city of Wady Halfa with total investments of $500 million, a senior official at the Egyptian Ministry of Transport said.
The official added that Sudan’s Ministry of Transports had approved the project in February 2006 and delivered a copy to the Saudi investors who showed interest in its implementation under a BOT arrangement.
Ministers of transport in Egypt and Sudan had announced early last week their countries’ plans to construct a joint railway line extending 502 km. Both countries are currently in talks with investors to finance and implement the project.
Official sources said the project would include another railway line in Sudanese lands extending 350 km, which would be offered to investors soon.
Other Egyptian-Sudanese joint ventures include the development of a river-way between Wady Halfa and the town of Dongola, the expansion of Wady Halfa harbor and four other projects to construct roads and bridges, including the coastal road between Egyptian Suez and Port Sudan City.
