Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi inaugurated on Saturday a number of projects in Alexandria, including the 21km El-Mahmoudiya Canal Road Axis, which is set to reduce traffic congestion and reduce slums in the Mediterranean governorate.

Construction on El-Mahmoudiya axis, dubbed the “Artery of Hope,” began in February 2018. The axis comprises seven flyovers, 20 pedestrian bridges, and three under-construction tunnels.

El-Mahmoudiya Canal is a waterway stemming from the Rosetta branch of the River Nile. In the past years, the canal was neglected as a source of irrigation. Water levels dropped in parts of the canal, which turned into a stagnant lake and a source for diseases, according to a presidential statement. 

The new project has converted El-Mahmoudiya Canal from a swampland to a major traffic axis.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi during the inauguration ceremony of a number of projects in Alexandria on Saturday (photo courtesy of Egyptian Presidency)

During the inaugural ceremony El-Sisi said the axis will extend to Beheira, south of Alexandria. The state will re-build illegally constructed mosques and buildings that were demolished to make way for the axis, he added.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said the two-year project cost EGP 5.5 billion.

El-Sisi also opened new extensions at the Alexandria National Refining and Petrochemicals Company (ANRPC) and a grain silos complex with a capacity of 90,000 tons.

Petroleum minister Tarek El-Mulla said the ANRPC extensions will add 700,000 tons of gasoline per year. Another project at the Egyptian Refining Company in Cairo adds 500,000 tons of gasoline annually.

El-Mulla added that a planned project at Upper Egypt’s Assiut will add, through the Assiut Oil Refining Company, 800,000 tons of gasoline per year, and extensions to Midor Company in Alexandria will annually provide 500,000 tons of gasoline.

Alexandria, which comprises six refineries and three petrochemical complexes, houses 45 percent of Egypt’s oil refining capacity, El-Mulla said during the inauguration ceremony, adding that it is responsible for 35 percent of the demand on national gasoline and diesel.

Egypt seeks to achieve fuel self-sufficiency by 2023, El-Mulla noted.

The new petroleum projects are meant to increase the production capacity of gasoline from 800,000 tons to 1.5 million tons annually, according to a documentary by the Armed Forces’ Morale Affairs Department.

The second phase of the Bashayer El-Kheir housing project was also inaugurated on Saturday. The project, comprising 992 housing units and a commercial area, is constructed over 14,400 square metres, the documentary added.

In Borg El-Arab, an industrial city in the Mediterranean governorate, a wastewater treatment plant was also opened. The plant has a daily capacity of 115,000 cubic metres, the documentary stated.

Investing in higher education 

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi during the inauguration ceremony of a number of projects in Alexandria on Saturday (photo courtesy of Egyptian Presidency)

At the inaugural ceremony in Alexandria, Minister of Higher Education Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar said Egypt will have a total of 28 governmental universities, 35 private universities and 18 private non-profit universities within the next two years.

Investments in the higher education sector have reached EGP 90 billion, Abdel-Ghaffar said, adding that 35 new faculties have been added to governmental universities.

Abdel-Ghaffar’s remarks come two weeks after Madbouly said the country will establish four new private non-profit universities, as per a presidential order, in South Sinai, Alamein city, Suez and New Mansoura.

El-Sisi said at the ceremony the state has established the new universities with modern specialties to qualify students for job opportunities.

The president added the new universities will help provide education according to international standards to encourage students against seeking costly education abroad.

Some 20,000 Egyptian students are studying abroad, spending a total of EGP 20 billion on education, Abdel-Ghaffar said.

Prevention against coronavirus 

El-Sisi urged the public to continue to commit to the preventive measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus, particularly because the academic year is about to start. 

Last month, the education ministry said Egypt's 2020/2021 school year will start on Saturday 17 October instead of September due to the pandemic. No decision has yet been made as to whether students will attend classes full-time.

The ministry is still considering the system schools will adopt, it added. 

On Wednesday, Minister of Education Tarek Shawky posted on Facebook the plan for the new academic year "will be explained in detail by the first week of September."

Egypt has witnessed a slight increase in the daily tally of coronavirus cases since Monday, reversing a low of 89 infections two days earlier, the lowest daily infection toll since early April.

Though Egypt detected 103 cases on Sunday, the numbers of the daily toll have been gradually increasing, reaching 223 new cases on Friday. 

Egypt has recorded a total of 98,285 coronavirus cases since the outbreak began in mid-February.

The surge comes as the government is repeatedly urging caution to avoid a second wave of the pandemic, particularly with the advent of autumn.

Madbouly called on people on Wednesday to exercise caution to prevent a second wave of the pandemic, adding that Egypt will maintain the existing preventive measures against the disease.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi during the inauguration ceremony of a number of projects in Alexandria on Saturday (photo courtesy of Egyptian Presidency)

"The noticeable increase in the number of infections recently prompts us to [exercise] caution, and to maintain the strict precautionary measures and penalties for violators to prevent a second wave of the coronavirus and to avoid an increase in the curve of infections and deaths as has happened in some countries," he added.