The government is seeking funding for the initial phase of the fourth underground metro line, according to a Ministry of Transport source. The new metro line is expected to reduce congestion in the areas of al-Malek al-Saleh, Giza, Haram and 6th of October. The same source said the government has submitted an official request to the Japanese Embassy in Cairo seeking a long-term loan to finance construction. The Ministry of International Cooperation said Egypt is requesting a particular type of loan which will enable Egypt to make payments over a 40-year period, the first ten years of which will be interest-free. With this type of loan, no less than 30 percent of the total repayment amount must be in the form of purchases of Japanese goods and services. The same source added that the Japanese government has assigned the Japan International Cooperation Agency the job of conducting studies and preparing a preliminary design for the line. The agency will also prepare a specifications booklet for the project. The Cairo metro system consists of two operational lines; construction on a third line kicked off in 2006. The two lines carry around 700 million passengers a year. That amounts to an average of two million commuters daily. Construction of the project launched in 1982 after the French government agreed to give Egypt the required loan. The network was greatly expanded in the mid-1990s with the building of the second line. The third metro line--still under construction--extends from the northwest of greater Cairo at Imbaba, to the northeast at Heliopolis, and will eventually serve Cairo International Airport. Line three is expected to be fully operational by October 2019. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
