CAIRO, June 5, 2018 (MENA) - Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail chaired on Tuesday a ministerial meeting to review implementation of a project to renovate and upgrade Alexandria tram system, which represents one of the major transport facilities in the coastal city. The project falls within the framework of the government's policy to address the accumulated problems connected with the transportation domain in the big cities. During the meeting that was attended by the transport minister and Alexandria governor, they agreed to start implementing the project at the beginning of the new year. The implementation phase is expected to start after finalizing the projects's consultancy work and related studies especially pertaining to Alexandria's entire urban transport system. The attendees agreed as well to assign the National Authority for Tunnels with carrying out the required consultancy work given the great experience it has in such projects. The tram's management will be entrusted to a new company, a step that requires benefiting from a foreign bureau to offer needed consultancies in this domain. The Alexandria governor said that the project aims to offer an advanced service to the citizens through upgrading facilities, stations and locomotives, a move that would contribute to increasing the tram's carrying capacities and easing traffic congestion in the Mediterranean metropolis. The average number of passengers to be ferried by the tram per day is expected to range between 250,000 and 300,000, he added. He pointed out that the costs of the project are estimated at about 360 million euros, adding that it is set to be finalized by early 2022.
