By Akanimo Sampson
The Egyptian government is currently working on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with an American company for the construction of a 30-kilometer Cairo Metro Line 6.It is working out the deal with Bechtel Corporation, an engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company.Minister of Transport, Kamel El-Wazir, who made this public affirmed that the two parties are looking at the contracts and have quickly reached a near agreement. “We told them to submit an offer on paper. If we reach an agreement, we will begin working at once and expedite all the contracts and agreements”, the minister said.
This project is estimated to cost about $5 billion. The Egyptian minister of transport assured that the North African country has already secured finance for the metro line from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan.
Egypt’s National Railways Industry Company on the other hand has signed an agreement with South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem to modernize Cairo’s metro system.
This agreement covers the manufacturing of more than 800 metro cars and the supply of new lines, which comes as part of the modernization of the first and second Cairo metro lines.
Under the first phase of the agreement, according to minister El-Wazir, local components will make up 29.9 percent of metro cars in the first two years, rising to 50 percent in the following couple of years, and then jumping to 75 percent after six years.
“The increased use of local materials will help to make the North African country more self-sufficient and reduce its dependence on imported goods. Any surplus products will be exported to other African countries,” said the minister adding that the South Korean company is now developing signal systems in the area between Nagei Hamadi and Luxor.
