CAIRO: The French Agency for Development, said on Saturday, it is awaiting approval by the Egyptian authorities for a soft loan worth 300 million Euros to finance construction of the third line of the Cairo Metro. This came in a statement distributed by the French Embassy in Cairo, Saturday, on the loan, which was approved recently by the French Development Agency. The first stage of the new Metro line was recently completed and opened, which aims to improve public transport congestion issues. The statement noted that this phase, which extends a distance of 18 km will link downtown with Zamalek, pointing out that the financing plan is implemented by the European Investment Bank, and the program of investment facilities for the benefit of neighboring countries of the European Union, along with the Egyptian government. According to the statement, a tender of the project must be launched during the current year, for the estimated period of eight years, noting that the project is very important on the social, economic and environmental levels. The statement noted, that this project is about half of the commitments made by France by the Deauville Initiative, which was launched in 2011.
