President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inaugurates Thursday the new Suez Canal in a lavish and heavily secured ceremony, as Egypt seeks to boost its economy and international standing. The event in the port city of Ismailiya, due to be attended by several heads of state including French President Francois Hollande, comes two years after then army chief Sisi overthrew his Islamist predecessor. Sisi broke ground on the canal project last August after being elected president after he promised to strengthen security and revive a dilapidated economy. Initial estimates suggested the new route would take up to three years to build, but Sisi set an ambitious target of 12 months to finish the project. It has been touted as a landmark achievement, rivalling the digging of the original 192-kilometre (119-mile) canal which opened in 1869 after almost a decade of work. The new section, built at a cost of $9 billion (7.9 billion euros) and funded entirely by Egyptian investors, runs part of the way alongside the existing canal connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. "It's an achievement for the people who managed to fund it as a national project and accomplished it through perseverance and hard work," Sisi's office has said. It involved 37 kilometres of dry digging, creating what is effectively a "second lane", and widening and deepening another 35 kilometres of the existing canal. It will cut the waiting period for vessels from 18 hours to 11. By 2023 the number of ships using the canal will increase to 97 per day from 49 now, the government hopes. Officials hope the new waterway will more than double Suez earnings from $5.3 billion expected at the end of 2015 to $13.2 billion in 2023. But analysts say the increase in ships and revenue would hinge on global trade volume and not the canal's capacity. Banners saying "New Suez Canal: Egypt's Gift to the World" and hundreds of Egyptian flags graced the streets of Cairo and other cities on Thursday. The waterway is a cornerstone for Sisi to boost his regime's legitimacy after a deadly crackdown on dissent.
