President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi made a visit on Friday to the site of a planned waterway, inaugurated on Tuesday, which will be dug alongside the Suez Canal.

 

Presidential spokesman Ehab Badawy said El-Sisi's five-hour visit to the site, which ended at 10am, aimed to check on the digging process.

 

Local daily Al-Masry Al-Youm reported the president had breakfast with the project's workers.

 

The new artificial waterway is planned to be 72-km in length. Construction will cost $4 billion according to head of the Suez Canal Mohab Memish.

 

El-Sisi has announced that digging for the parallel canal will be finished by mid-2015 – far sooner than the three years previously announced for the project.

 

Badawy said on Friday that following up on the carrying out of national projects will be one of the "special characteristics of the coming stage" in Egypt's political transition.

 

The president said on Thursday that shares in the new project were issued at prices of $100 per share for Egyptians abroad, LE100 for locals and LE10 for students.