New Suez Canal Built In Record Time Expected To Give A Boost To Egypt’s Economy

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi seems to know how to get things done.
Under his leadership, Egypt has experienced economic growth–and foreign investors have returned to the country. Last week, a 35-kilometer long second Suez Canal was inaugurated after more than 9000 workers must have established a new world record in canal digging. The building of the canal took only one year instead of the expected three. The old 164 kilometer-long Suez Canal, which was built 146 years ago, took more than 10 years to complete. One could say that the speedy completion time made the new Suez Canal a wonder of the modern world as the pyramids were a wonder of the ancient world.
The new canal is expected to double the number of vessels passing through Egypt and is expected to nearly triple the revenues from the Suez Canal to $13 billion a year.
The $8 billion project was launched in August 2014 and was overseen by the army after President al-Sisi ordered the construction to be completed in one year.
The building of a massive international industrial and logistics complex near the new Suez Canal is expected to deliver a further boost to the Egyptian economy.
The revenues of the canal and the new projects are scheduled to count for up to one third of GDP in the near future.
The Egyptian government succeeded in financing the huge project without being totally dependent on large foreign investments. A substantial amount of the construction costs were covered by donations from Egyptian citizens and companies. The rest of the money came from government bonds and loans from banks. Egypt received money from the Gulf States, among them Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The inauguration of the canal took place during the same week when Saudi Arabia and Egypt signed an agreement to enhance military, economic and political cooperation.
President Al-Sisi and Saudi Defense Minister Mohammed Bin Salman issued the so-called “Cairo Declaration,” a six-point document that outlined the strengthening of the cooperation between the two countries .