CAIRO, Sept 5, 2018 – The Cabinet approved in its weekly meeting yesterday under Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli a funding agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to upgrade the Underground Metro Line 1 at a value of 205 million euros. The agreement is aimed at rehabilitating the components of the railway infrastructure in the Metro Line 1 including energy units, signals and central control systems. Metro Line 1 serves up to 1.8 million commuters, said Minister of Transport Hisham Arafat, adding that efforts are being made to improve the service. In another development, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli witnessed on Wednesday the inking of a deal between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Petroleum about property tax assessment criteria for petroleum and mineral resources institutions. The deal, which aims to set property tax rates for the institutions, comes in accordance with property tax law no. 196/2008, along with its amendments. After the inking ceremony, Minister of Petroleum Tarek el-Mulla said the target of the agreement is to determine the best method to set property tax for the institutions in question. Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maeet said the petroleum sector comes second after tourism in terms of reaching a deal about setting property taxes and specifying means of collecting them.
