Mubarak dismisses plans of Egypt-Saudi bridge
CAIRO: A purported bridge to be built linking Saudi Arabia and Egypt has caused consternation in recent days over whether it will actually happen or not.
Talk of a bridge being built between Ras Humaid in the Saudi region of Tabuk and Sharm El-Sheikh in Sinai kicked off in the Saudi English language newspaper Arab News on May 3, which reported that work on the causeway would be built within three years at the cost of $3 billion.
Yet President Hosni Mubarak dismissed any notions about the causeway Sunday, telling Al-Messa newspaper that it would ruin tourism in Sharm El-Sheikh.
The newspaper quoted Mubarak as saying, “A causeway piercing through Sharm El-Sheikh would cause damage to a number of hotels and tourism establishments, [it] would harm the calm nature [of the area] and its security, which would force tourists to go elsewhere, and this is something I will never accept.
Yet Mohammed Nabil Megahed, coordinator of the project, told Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper that what was presented to the president about the project was “misleading and untrue.
He said that the causeway would not pass through Sharm El-Sheikh, dismissing this as “silly talk, and that in fact it would be 8 km away passing through the Nabaq Oasis and ending at the Sharm El-Sheikh-Dahab road.
Megahed added to the Egyptian daily that “the thieves of Sharm El-Sheikh are fighting the project because it conflicts with their interests, alluding that certain investors were attempting to sabotage the project.
Arab News had spoken to Fouad Abdul Aziz Khaleel, adviser to the Egyptian transport minister and chairman of the Arab Roads Administration who had said that the bridge would be built with the support of specialist international companies.
Arab News had also reported that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia would be the one to lay the foundation stone for the 50 km road.
Mubarak said in his interview that the idea of a bridge linking the two countries was first proposed during the reign of the late King Fahd but the Saudis themselves reneged on the idea.
“The idea was initiated by the late King Fahd but it was later dropped by the Saudis, Mubarak said.
However, the idea re-emerged, according to Mubarak, after the 2006 Al-Salam 98 ferry disaster, which killed 1,033 passengers who were traveling by sea from Saudi Arabia to Safaga.
