The new Suez Canal in Egypt is all set to be inaugurated on August 6, 2015. The canal is a massive project completed in one year after it was initially projected to take three years
New Suez Canal
The new Suez Canal in Egypt is all set to be inaugurated on August 6, 2015. The canal is a massive project completed in one year after it was initially projected to take three years. It adds a new water path of 72 km that were dredged to allow larger ships to pass and less time to be consumed. According to the Suez Canal Authority, 258 million cubic meters of earth were removed from the desert to cut the new channels.
Drawing on the intense nationalist sentiment that surrounds the Suez Canal and thanks to the mutual trust between the Egyptian people in the Egyptian leadership, the project was financed with more than US$7.5 bn in full by pure Egyptian public funds, raised via investment certificates that sold out in just eight days. Moreover, ambitious plans for a massive international industrial, logistics and tourist hub near the new canal will help boost the Egyptian economy, eventually accounting for up to one third of GDP.
Ismail Amer, Egyptian Tourism Counselor in Mumbai said, “Not only will it add to the transportation sector but also it will benefit the tourism in Egypt and globally. The route of the Suez Canal now is more appealing for sea cruises with much less time span, a traveller now can enjoy a richer trip in a shorter time. Now it is the time to organise transcontinental between Asian and further eastern countries to European and further western countries thanks to these expansions. All the ministries are co-working now to realise a legendary inauguration that befits the great achievement.”
Egypt will celebrate the launch with major festivities in almost all the Egyptian governorates. Official celebrations which will be attended by about 50 worldwide leaders will include the performance of Opera Aida which was first performed during the inauguration of the old Suez Canal in 1869. Aida will be performed by Cairo Opera House along with other numbers including the renowned Egyptian Musician Omar Khairat who will give a concert with over a thousand performers participating. According to the announcement by the Suez Canal Authority, for the first time in history, ships at ports all over the world will blow their horns simultaneously on the launch date to mark the new Suez Canal’s opening.
“The message to the world behind that achievement is that Egyptians have already won their battle against the fogy thoughts and the rigid regimes and now they digging their way in the future’s desert towards a better life.” concluded Amer.
