Egypt signs €100 million EBRD loan for metro upgrade

Egypt has signed Tuesday a €100 million finance with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to upgrade the second line of the Cairo Metro project.

The loan will be used to finance the procurement of 13 new trains to be operated on the second line of the Cairo Metro under a supply and maintenance contract, boosting the capacity of the metro line by some 23 percent.

Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr has signed the agreement on the sidelines of the MEED Egypt Mega Projects Conference that is being taken place in Cairo on 8-9 December 2015.

According to an earlier statement on the EBRD website, it is an 18-year sovereign loan to finance the purchase of the trains as well as “a portion of the long-term outsourced maintenance contract for Line 2’s entire fleet covering mainly the spare parts and equipment.”

The EBRD has invested more than €1.4 billion in Egypt in 30 projects since 2012, in sectors such as natural resources, finance, agribusiness, manufacturing and services, infrastructure, and transport, according to the statement.