Egypt will receive a US$392 million loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency to fund the construction of Cairo's fourth metro line, Egypt's planning minister said on Monday after signing the agreement. The amount is the first installment of a $1.28 billion loan that carries an interest rate of 0.2 percent, Planning and International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abouelnaga said. The new line, costing an estimated LE15 billion ($2.49 billion), is to run from the northwestern suburb of 6th of October City via the site of a new Egyptian museum near the Pyramids of Giza to a district south of downtown. Construction is set to begin in September and expected to take seven years to finish. Egypt last month inaugurated the first phase of the third line, running from the city center to the airport in the northeast.
