CAIRO-Egypt plans to build a $1 billion tunnel under the Suez Canal at Port Said and will begin seeking finance as soon as the designs are completed, Al-Akhbar newspaper, on Monday, quoted the Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin as saying. The tunnel, to be built 19 kilometres (12 miles) south of the canal's northern entrance. It will have three passageways; one for rail and two for cars, the Minister told a conference in Dahab in the eastern Sinai Peninsula. The conference was called to discuss investment in the cities along the canal and in the Sinai, which the government is keen to develop following a number of clashes between security forces and impoverished Bedouin tribes. "There is good cooperation with international investment funds to finance the project, which will be entirely financed outside the state budget," Mohieldin said. Egypt now has two points for cars to cross the waterway - a tunnel near the city of Suez and a bridge near Ismailia. Once the Port Said tunnel is finished, another tunnel is planned for Ismailia.
