Bulldozers and trucks are seen in a demonstration of the equipment which will be used as part of plans for a major upgrade of the Suez Canal, in Cairo August 5, 2014 (Photo: Reuters)
The Suez Canal corridor project planned by a consortium led by Dar Al-Handasah will cost $220 billion over fifteen years, said Ashraf Salman, Egypt's investment minister, at the Euromoney conference in Cairo on Tuesday.
The plan is to establish development projects along a 160 km corridor of barren desert beside the international waterway, including logistics and industrial hubs.
A wider Suez Canal development plan began last month with digging a parallel waterway to increase ship traffic.
The new waterway will add at least $2-5 billion in the coming three years to the state budget, Salman said at the conference.
The digging of the new canal and underground tunnels costs $4 billion which were raised by the government through public offering of investment certificates.
"This is a pilot project that is very important in driving growth in the fiscal year 2014/15", said Salman.
*This story has been corrected
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