Egypt inaugurates Suez Canal expansion today

Cairo - Egyptian officials expect the new canal branch will increase the daily navigation as well as the annual revenues from the average $3.5 billion today to $13.2 billion by the start of 2033.

Egypt is set to open the new Suez Canal today in a historic ceremony, which is expected to be attended by 6,000 people including a number of world leaders.
The North African country hopes the new canal will revitalise the economy as the new 72km-long section, a two-way passage, will increase the navigation along the waterway that links the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. It will also reduce vessels' waiting time from 11 hours to three hours.
Egyptians, regarding it as a national project, purchased 90 per cent of the new Suez Canal investment certificates within eight working days raising $8.45 billion - more than the targeted amount of $140 million.
The expansion project added 35km of new channels, in addition to 37km of existing waterways that were dredged to allow larger ships to pass. According to the Suez Canal Authority, 258 million cubic metres of earth were removed from the desert to cut the new channels. The project is a part of an ambitious economic plan to make the Suez Canal area a logistic, industrial and trade centre through building several ports for the trade fleet and vessels. Egypt has been facing an economic crisis and a shortage of foreign exchange since the ouster of former president Mohammed Hosni Mubarak on January 25, 2011, due to a decline in foreign investments and tourism revenues.
Egyptian officials expect the new canal branch will increase the daily navigation as well as the annual revenues from the average $3.5 billion today to $13.2 billion by the start of 2033.
The Suez Canal, which has seen the passage of around 17,100 vessels in 2014, according to the Suez Canal Authority, is considered to be one of Egypt's primary national income sources.
On April 25, 1869 in the rule of Khedive Said the barrage of the Suez plains reservoir was breached and waters of the Mediterranean flowed into the Red Sea and the canal was opened for international navigation. The completion of the Suez Canal was a cause for considerable celebration. In Port Said, the extravaganza began with fireworks and a ball attended by six thousand people. They included many heads of state, including the Empress Eugenie, the Emperor of Austria, the Prince of Wales, the Prince of Prussia and the Prince of the Netherlands. Two convoys of ships entered the canal from its southern and northern points and met at Ismailia. Parties continued for weeks and the celebration also marked the opening of Ismail's old Opera House in Cairo, which is now gone.
On April 17,1869 digging work in the canal were over. It took 10 years to complete and as much as 74 million cubic metres of sands were extracted in the rule of Khedive Ismail who travelled to Europe on May 17,1869 to invite the kings, princesses, presidents, prime ministers, politicians and men of arts and literature to attend the momentous event.
After his return to Egypt, he built a majestic palace on the shore of Al Timisah (Crocodile) lake for the entertainment of the invitees and pitched 1,200 tents to host them. He also brought 500 chefs and servants from France and Italy, and construct a road from Cairo to the Pyramids in Giza, in which 10,000 workers constructed the luxury residence. He also set up the Opera House and the villas.
The magnificent and the majestic aura of the place had impressed the Empress of France Eugenie who cried amazingly "Oh, My God I have never seen like this in my life".
As for the upcoming celebration now in the era of President Abdel Fattah El Sisis, General Mahab Mamish, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, said that an international conglomerate has been selected to plan and organise the celebration ceremony in collaboration with the Suez Canal Authority.
" WPP won the tender for organising the opening ceremony in collaboration with the authority," he said, adding the government budget will not bear the costs of the function, and the specifications of the event are 100 per cent Egyptian. The representative of the WPP said the opening ceremony will cost $30 million and the Egyptian government will not bear any financial burdens.
"The opportunity was opened to the sincere Egyptians and funding will come from Egyptian and foreign companies."
The project, according to General Mehab, will create more than one million job opportunities for youth, will put Egypt on its natural track and strengthen its economic potentials.
Engineer Hafiz Al Saeed head of the authority for cleaning and beautification of Cairo province, said the province had fully prepared for the event as all beautification work on sides of the roads and public squares are completed along with the installation of huge balloons and illumination of trees in a number of streets that link Cairo International Airport with Egypt- Ismailiyya desert highway.
To commemorate the historic event, Dr Majid Faraj, the official spokesman of the family of King Farouk, former King of Egypt said that the Suez Canal Authority, the organiser of the inauguration ceremony had invited King Ahmed Fouad the second to attend the opening ceremony, who was delighted and felt he was really a part of the Egyptian social fabric, and that what he wished all his life time.
According to diplomatic sources the most prominent world leaders who were invited to attend the opening ceremony include the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, France's Francois Hollande, China's Xi Jinping, and Cyprus's Nicos Anastasiades, South Sudan's Salva Kiir Miardit, Djibouti's Ismail Omar Guelleh, Malawi's Peter Mutharika, and the Prime Ministers of Greece Alexis Tsipras; Britain's David Cameron, and Ethiopia's Hailimariam Desaligne.
The Arab kings and leaders who will attend the event are the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia; President of Sudan Omar Al Bashir; Iraq's Mohammed Fouad Masoum; His Highness Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah, the Amir of Kuwait; His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain; King Abdullah II of Jordan; Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi President of Yemen; His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces; Abdul Malek Salal, Prime Minister of Algeria, Tamam Salam Prime Minister of Lebanon and Prime Minister of Iraq Haidar Al Abadi.
- malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com

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• MENA