The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) approved on Tuesday a €25 million ($29.6 million) loan to finance the construction of Egypt's first inland dry port located in 6th of October City. The loan will go for Egypt's October Dry Port Company (ODP), a joint stock company established to construct the dry port project. The EBRD loan is part of a total investment package of $60 million designed to finance the design, development, construction, and operation, as well as maintenance of the port. The project will be Egypt's trigger investment under the EBRD's Green Cities Framework, the bank said in a statement. The anticipated port will act as an extended gateway for the deep-sea ports located in the northern and eastern regions of Egypt and designed to be the final destination of cargo. According to the bank, the port is expected to provide efficient customs inspections and clearance procedures, reduce congestion in the seaports, create economies of scale by using intermodal rail services to/from the seaports. It will also improve the overall reliability and cost-efficiency of the logistics processes of the dry port's future clients. "It is also expected to transfer part of the container traffic from road to railway, thus realising many social, environmental, and economic benefits such as reduced road congestion, accidents, and environmental emissions." the EBRD statement read. "In particular, the project will lead to significant GHG savings and air pollutants reductions and is therefore consistent with the Green Economy Transition (GET) approach and is 100 percent GET," Rania al-Mashat, Egypt's international cooperation minister The inland dry port projects boost Egypt's strategy of green transformation, Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Rania al-Mashat said in a ministry statement. The EBRD loan has approved for the 6th of October City's dry port paves the way for securing more finances for such kind of projects and other transport projects through establishing further international partners, al-Mashat added.
