Canadian firm to sign initial funding deal for Cairo metro sixth line on Tuesday

One of the Canadian firms is to sign Tuesday an initial contract with the Egyptian National Authority for Tunnels to finance Cairo’s sixth metro line.

The Egyptian authority will sign an initial contract with the Canadian firm after completing lengthy talks on the technical and financing terms to finance the sixth metro line project, said the authority’s spokesman Hussein Tawfik.

The official contracts will be signed later next year, Tawfik further told Amwal Al Ghad on Monday, adding that the drilling works on the sixth line would begin in mid-2018.

Cairo’s metro, planned to have a total of six metro lines, aims to reduce traffic congestion in one of the most populous cities in the world.

The sixth line will stretch over 24 kilometres parallel to the first line from Al-Khosos north of Cairo until the southern suburb of Maadi in the satellite zone, to have a capacity of 1.5 million passengers per day, the minister added.

The Cairo metro is used by millions to get around the bustling city. The metro plays an important role in combating Cairo’s traffic woes.