World Bank $330 fund for Egyptian railway

Ahram online, Friday 17 Dec 2010

An extra fund of $330 million by the World Bank will be directed to upgrade the Egyptian Railway.

Railway
A $ 330 million fund was given to the Egyptian railway upgrading by the world bank. (photo: Reuters)

There were good news for Egypt's long suffering railway system, as the board of Executive Directors of the World Bank, yesterday approved a loan of $330 million for Egypt as additional funding for the restructuring project of the Egyptian railway. This fund will help the government in upgrading the services and the safety standards of Egypt's railway. New investments are needed to renew the signaling systems and bars. Passengers, business institutions, and public and private enterprises will benefit from this project as well as businesses  based on transporting goods.The World Bank had in 2009 approved an initial fund of $270 million for the project.

David Crey, the regional manager of the World Bank in Egypt, Yemen, and Djibouti, said today that the World Bank is delighted to support the railway sector in Egypt, to enhance the competitive edge of this sector. The main project will finance investment in the signalling system of Cairo- Alexandria route, plus the upgrading of 200 km of railway bars on the route of Cairo-Assiut, and 51 km of the Banha-Portsaid route railway bars.

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