Memish announced the signing at a press conference attended by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab, saying that they refer to the consortium as "the Challenge Coalition" due to the challenging dredging work they have to accomplish under a tight deadline.
"It is a very challenging project if you look at the timeline. We are looking at moving about 180 million cubic meters of soil in a time span of less than nine month operational time and we have one month to bring the equipment here to do that job," Bas van Bemmelen, area director of Dutch Boskalis dredging company, one of the six partners, told Xinhua Saturday.
The project was designed to be finished within three years, but Egyptian newly-elected President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ordered the New Suez Canal be done in one year sharp and be open for ship navigation in early August 2015.
"It is the hugest dredging work in the world and the new canal will be inaugurated on August 5, 2015," Memish said.
The new 72-km waterway project includes 35 km of dry digging and 37 km of expansion and deepening of the current canal, with a total cost of more than eight billion dollars. The national project also includes the digging of six new tunnels underneath the New Suez Canal that will be constructed simultaneously.
"We have finished 68 million cubic meters of dry digging so far and we will keep our promise to complete such a historical project on time," Memish added, noting that his authority will be in charge of dredging one of the six zones using six dredgers, while the international firms will do the other five using 30 dredgers. "The first batch of dredgers will arrive next week," he said.
Earlier in August, Sisi gave the go-ahead signal for digging the new 72-km canal. The new waterway is expected to help revive Egypt's ailing economy by increasing ship traffic revenues, luring huge foreign investments and creating thousands of job opportunities.
Source:Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
19/10/14
--
-
Egyptians race to expand Suez Canal, hoping for trade surge...
ReplyDeleteBulldozers push earth and dredgers spit mud round the clock at Egypt’s Suez Canal in a race to quickly expand the strategic waterway for two-way traffic, a project trumpeted by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi to revive both the country’s damaged economy and visions of nationalist glory.
The government’s goal of more than doubling annual canal revenues to some $13 billion in less than a decade, however, appears overly ambitious. Although more vessels will be drawn to the canal because there will be almost no wait time, any major increase depends on something unlikely to happen soon, analysts and shippers say - a large jump in European demand fueling greater shipping from Asia.
“It all depends on the trade volume between East and West, not the capacity of the canal,” said Xu Zhibin, managing director for the Egyptian affiliate of China’s state-owned COSCO, one of the world’s top container shippers. “Volume will rise if the European economy begins to boom ... As of now I don’t think that there will be an increase in volume.”
The expansion’s importance is more long term, as it will better position the canal to keep its prominence in the future. In the short term, it appears to be more of a prestige exercise to boost national pride after four years of demoralizing turmoil and to shore up the image of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi as the savior of the nation. Egypt’s economy has been battered since the 2011 uprising that ousted longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. His successor Mohammed Morsi, an elected but divisive Islamist, was overthrown by then-army chief el-Sissi during mass protests in 2013................http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/egyptians-race-to-expand-suez-canal-hoping-for-trade-surge.aspx?pageID=238&nID=79170&NewsCatID=352
4/3/15
Egypt's "new Suez Canal" is to be inaugurated in August, Egyptian prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab said on Monday at the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) summit in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa...
ReplyDeleteThe premier invited the summit's guests to attend the inauguration of the newly expanded Suez Canal, which is to include a new lane to allow for ships to pass in opposite directions at the same time.
He also called on them to invest in a commercial zone to be established near the extended Suez Canal.
The widening of the Suez Canal and the new commercial zone are both part of Egypt's Suez Canal Development mega-project, which also includes plans to develop the seaports in the bordering governorates of Suez, Ismailia and Port Said and in the South Sinai town of Nuweiba, as well as the Sharm Al-Sheikh airport.
Delegates from 19 African countries are currently attending the COMESA summit.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/126519.aspx
30/3/15
My progгammer іs trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP.
ReplyDeleteI have alwɑys disliked the idea because of the costs.
But he's tryiong none the less. I've been using ᏔordPress on a variety of websites
for about a year and am concеrned about switching to another platform.
I haᴠe heard great tһings about bloɡengine.net. Is there a way I can transfer all my
wordpress content into it? Any kind of help would be really appreciated!
review : How Тo Lock Files Business Using Your Childhood
Memories
Hello tһerе! Thіѕ post couldn't be written much better!
ReplyDeleteGօing through this articlе rеminds me of my preνious roommate!
He always kеpt talking aƅout this. І most certainly
will forward this article to him. Pretty sure he's going to have a
greɑt read. I appｒeciate you for sharing!
you can try here : How To Loϲk Ϝіles Thе Marine Way