Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt is close to sign an agreement with the US Bechtel Corp to implement Cairo’s sixth metro line, Reuters reported, citing the Minister of Transport, Kamel El-Wazir, as saying.
The transport ministry is implementing several railway projects, expected to be complete by the end of 2024, El-Wazir added in an American Chamber of Commerce event on Monday.
The country is working on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bechtel to conduct feasibility studies and implement a 30-kilometre (km) sixth metro line at a value of $5 billion.
“Just yesterday we had the contracts and we quickly reached near-agreement,” El-Wazir added.
“We told them to submit a written offer. If we reach agreement, we will begin working at once and expedite all the contracts and agreements,” he pointed out.
Egypt secured a finance for the metro line from Canada, the US, the UK, France, and Japan, El-Wazir said.
The minister did not disclose the route of the new metro line, but reports claimed that it will run east of the Nile from north to south.
Last week, Egypt’s Orascom Construction and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation signed an $800 million contract with Egypt's National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) to implement the first phase of Cairo Metro Line 4.
