The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has contributed $140m to the Sharm El-Sheikh Airport development project, investment firm EFG Hermes said on Tuesday. Development at the airport will include increasing the airport's capacity from 10 million passengers a year to 18 million. This will occur through building a new terminal, developing airfield work, including runways, taxiway system, visual aids, service roads and tunnels. In October 2014, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) announced it had approved $230.2m for the development of Sharm El-Sheikh Airport. The bank had previously allocated $226.8m to the project. In August, Egypt was said to be negotiating with the World Bank for a loan worth $318m to develop the airport. Furthermore, the AfDB was said to have refused the loan to Egypt for the same purpose due to the volatile political conditions. Hurghada Airport is currently also being developed to raise its capacity to 13 million passengers annually. The aircraft self-service fees have risen to fund and support the development of civil aviation in Egypt, according to the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Aviation's charges include $45 for aircrafts weighing under 100 metric tons, $60 for aircrafts weighing over 100 tons, and $78 for aircrafts weighing over 200 tons. The AfDB announced last year that it plans to continue its support to the Egyptian government by expanding its lending programme in 2015. The bank aims to finance projects in the water, irrigation and energy sectors, along with small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In 2014, the bank said it worked on providing $75m to build the transmission line from the bank-financed Suez thermal power project. This is in addition to a Risk Participation Agreement (RPA) between AfDB and the Commercial International Bank (CIB) to the tune of $50m to support the latter's export trade confirmation business in Egypt. Source: Daily News Egypt
