Egypt, Japan discuss executing 1st phase of 4th metro line

CAIRO – 12 June 2019: Ministry of Transport announced Wednesday that the negotiations between the Egyptian and Japanese sides witnessed progress to implement the first phase of the fourth line of the Metro, which extends 18 km from Ahram Gardens to King Saleh including 17 stations.

“The two sides agreed to continue to intensify meetings in the coming days to accelerate taking the executive steps of the project,” the ministry added in a statement.

This came during a joint meeting held by Transport Minister Kamel Al-Wazir and Investment Minister Sahar Nasr with a delegation from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) headed by Takima Sakamoto, director of the agency for the Middle East and Europe.

The minister of transport emphasized the importance of the implementation of the metro projects as one of the main solutions to reduce the liquidity of traffic and facilitate the mobility of individuals, especially with the great attention paid by the Egyptian government to develop, maximize and organize mass transportation.

He pointed out that the project is of great importance in meeting the transportation requirements of high density areas in the Pyramid, Faisal, and Omrania areas in Giza.

For her part, Nasr said that the ministry is working to encourage investors to launch investment projects in line with the strategy of developing the transport system and in light of the great improvement in the Egyptian economy and the promising investment climate.Nasr also stressed the importance of implementing the fourth line of the metro.

Meanwhile, the joint committee of the two ministries met to discuss the promotion of investment in transport, and investments in railway, road and bridge projects.

In April, a source at the National Authority for Tunnels told Egypt Today that the institution studies inviting tenders among Egyptian companies to construct the first phase of the fourth metro line stretching from 6 of October City to Giza Square passing through Al-Haram Street.

A tender lodged among Japanese companies was cancelled as only one offer was submitted. The offer was made by a Japanese consortium and the costs indicated surpassed the project’s estimated budget. Also, a technical offer to execute the second sector of the same phase was rejected.