Metro ticket prices will not increase as no decree regarding the subject has been issued, according to the Egyptian Company for Metro Management and Operation spokesperson Ahmed Abdel Hady Monday. Talking to Daily News Egypt, Abdel Hady said the authority has not received any proposals regarding changing the price of metro tickets. Private Egyptian newspapers reported on Sunday that metro ticket prices will be increased at the beginning of January. The increase will see tickets rise from the current EGP 1 to between EGP 1.5 and EGP 3, based on different branches and according to the number of stations used. The reports cited cabinet sources as saying that the reason behind the increases is the deficit in funding the fourth and the fifth metro lines. Cabinet spokesperson Hossam El-Kawish denied Sunday night, in a televised phone interview, any increases. However, he said that it is "illogical" for ticket prices to remain at EGP 1, in comparison with the services offered. A total of EGP 80bn is required to fund the wider expansion of Egypt's metro network, which also entails building the first phase of the fourth metro line in Cairo. There are also metro lines planned in Ismailia and Port Said under the canal, Chairman of the National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) Ismail El-Nagdy told Daily News Egypt in November. The NAT also requires funds to construct three metro lines in Port Said and others in Ismailia as part of the Suez Canal development project, set to cost EGP 4.5m over the next three years. El-Nagdy added that the total cost for metro construction is approximately EGP 13bn.
