Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi is set to inaugurate on Sunday four new tunnels in the cities of Ismailia and Port Said, as well as other major projects including several pontoon bridges, the state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram cited the presidency spokesperson Bassam Rady.
The tunnels, crossing the Suez Canal, are the biggest of its kind in Egypt, said Rady, adding that new floating bridges would ease the traffic from and to the Sinai Peninsula. They were all executed by the Armed Forces Engineering Authority and other local companies.
Rady added that the new tunnels will connect Sinai with the Nile Delta. They will serve as the lifeblood of the peninsula as they would facilitate the movement of people and goods, easing the lives of citizens in this region.
Moreover, he revealed that the tunnels are expected to achieve huge revenues and speed up the development process in Sinai. Each tunnel’s capacity is 50,000 vesicles daily, Rady said, adding that the tunnels’ lengths range from 4 to 6km. At each tunnel, there are 10 emergency exits, and are provided with electronic entrances, however, the fees for using the tunnels have not been revealed yet.
The total cost of establishing the tunnels is around EGP 12bn. About 3,000 Egyptian engineers and workers have taken part in building the tunnels since 2016.
Meanwhile, Ismailia is also expected to witness the inauguration of other projects including a huge drinking water treatment plant in new Ismailia, bridges, and road axes, established at a total cost of EGP 1bn.
