Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi inaugurated on Sunday five projects implemented by the roads and bridges authority worth a total of EGP 7.9 billion, including the last phase of the regional ring road and the Nile project axis.

The ceremony was also attended by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Kamel El-Wazir, the head of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority, along with many other ministers, governors and officials.

The projects included the axis of the Upper Nile's Tama Bridge, the Qous Bridge in Qena, and the Burg Al-Arab Bridge in Alexandria.

During the inauguration, Minister of Transportation Hisham Arafat gave a detailed presentation regarding all of the implemented projects.

Road projects since 2014

Arafat said that during the past four years, the ministry has implemented projects worth EGP 32 billion under the National Roads Project.

He added that the projects included the addition of 900 kilometers of roads to the national network, at a cost of EGP 19 billion.

Arafat added that the ministry, along with outside companies and the Armed Forces Engineering Authority (AFEA), developed 2000 kilometers of the internal network, at a cost of EGP 6 billion.

He also talked about the establishment of 6 axes on the Nile River, which added 75 kilometers to the network, at a cost of EGP 3.7 billion pounds, in addition to the upper bridges built to bypass the railways and main roads at a cost of EGP 3.3 billion.

According to the World Economic Forum, Egypt jumped from 118th in 2014 to 75th in the world in infrastructure, while also jumping from number 66 to number 41 globally for port infrastructure.

Meanwhile, El-Sisi during the ceremony called for the expropriation of agricultural land around the entrances and exits of new roads and bridges within the next five years, while adding that citizens would receive appropriate compensation.