An Economic Ministerial Committee headed by Egypt's Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly has approved starting procedures to seek a €350 million facilitated loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to develop Cairo's oldest metro line. Last August, Egypt revealed a plan to renovate the oldest line of Cairo's metro system with a fund of €205 million from a deal signed between the government and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The EBRD fund will be used to change the rail tracks used in the first line, as well as renovate stations and trains. The transportation minister said that around 900,000 passengers use the old metro line daily in the summer, and 1,200,000 use it in the winter. Egypt has repeatedly hiked metro ticket prices after the partial lifting of fuel subsidies. The last price increase was in May, when ticket prices were raised based on a new zoning system, ranging from 3 pounds to 7 pounds per ticket, up from a flat rate of 2 pounds. First launched in 1987, Cairo's metro, which operates throughout the capital and surrounding areas and runs both above and below ground at a top speed of 80 kilometres an hour, is one of the country's fastest means of transportation. Cairo's metro network accommodates more than four million passengers per day. Egypt plans to construct two additional metro lines in order to connect Cairo, Giza and the country's new administrative capital by 2030, bringing the total number of metro lines to six. Source: Ahram Online
