Due to scarce liquidity Egypt freezes plans to expand second line of subway

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Informed sources with the National Tunnels Authority said that the Egyptian Ministry of Transport was forced to freeze extending the second line metro project, from Shubra el-Khaima to Qalyoub (north of Cairo). This line was to extend 8.7 kilometres.

The sources attributed the reason for freezing the project to its high cost, which is estimated at EGP 10 billion (approximately $640 million), at a time when Cairo suffers from a lack of financial liquidity. The sources indicated that the study carried out by the consulting office indicated that the implementation of this project would require the expropriation of agricultural lands. The sources indicated that the extension of the metro line would require vast industrial work. The sources considered that the project’s cost is very high compared to the economic return and that authorities are studying alternatives, including raising the efficiency of the railway line from Shubra al-Khaimah to Qalyoub.

In December 2018, the National Tunnels Authority signed a contract with the French consultant office, Sestra, to determine what was necessary to extend the second line to the city of Qalyoub. The study determined that the planned route requires the construction of five stations, namely, Mit Nama, Ring Road, Mit Halfa, Kom Ashvin, and Qalyoub Railway Station, so that the new route runs along the Cairo-Alexandria railway line.