EGYPT – The Government of Egypt has announced plans to invest US$218.89 million in FY2020/2021 in the construction of the first phase of Cairo’s fourth metro line.
Once complete, the metro line will be expected to serve 1.35 million passengers with the number being increased to 2.5 million after the accomplishment of the second phase.
Cairo’s fourth metro line will pass beneath the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) as it connects 6th of October City in western Cairo to central and eastern Cairo.
The line will consist of two phases: One encompasses 17 stations while the other has 20, according to the National Agency for Tunnels (NAT).
The cost of the first phase’s construction is LE70 billion (US$ 4.38 billion), and will be executed by a coalition of Japanese and Egyptian companies.
The Japanese Institute of International Cooperation has already given Egypt a $1.2-billion soft loan to kickstart the project.
The decision to embark on the 4th project comes even as negotiations with RATP on the operation of Cairo’s third metro line are still underway.
Sources privy to the negotiations revealed that there is a disagreement on the financial return the French company will receive.
No consensus has been reached on whether the firm will get a profit share or a fixed amount for operating, maintaining and managing the line.
The sources highlighted that the Cabinet approved in principle leasing the line to RATP Group for 15 years.
Nonetheless, consent on certain details must be achieved, such as the ticket price in case the company gets a profit share.
They added that the ministry aims to make the ticket pricing exclusive to it and never decided by leasing companies.
The third metro line – consisting of 39 stations and stretching over 48 kilometers- is constructed by a coalition of Egyptian and French companies at LE90 billion (US$ 5.64 billion).
This is in addition to LE7 billion (US$438.33 million) allocated to the purchase of 34 trains to be operated on the line.
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