Sisi: Proceeds of Sinai development represented in national security

CAIRO – 22 April 2020: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi said the proceeds of the development achieved in Sinai are represented in national security, which “cannot be measured by money.”

President Sisi added that the development works in Sinai will be completed by the end of this year. This comes as President Sisi inaugurated a number of national projects Wednesday, including a major tunnel that links Suez to the Sinai Peninsula between the Red Sea in the west and the Mediterranean Sea in the north.

The Martyr Ahmed Hamdy 2 tunnel comes among a set of five tunnels in the northeastern city of Suez, which are established within the framework of Egypt’s 2020 vision.

"The inaugurated tunnel has two lanes with a length of 4,250 kilometers and a diameter of 11 meters," Chairman of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority Ehab el-Faar said during the opening ceremony.

"As many as 5,000 workers and engineers took part in the construction process," Faar noted. Sisi also inaugurated Al-Mahsama desalination plant in Serapeum, eastern the Suez Canal.

This comes after the Supreme Media Council fined the private daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm LE 250,000 over an op-ed penned by founder Salah Diab under the pen name “Newton.”

The column article suggested that Sinai should be assigned a governor with expanded powers to better govern the peninsula.

The council has ordered the paper to remove the piece from its website and issue an official apology. The newspaper is also required to suspend publishing Newton’s opinion pieces for one month.

Moreover, the council has referred the case to the public prosecutor to decide whether further action is warranted against Diab.