Egypt spearheads mega national projects under SDGs 

11 / 07 / 2019

• Sustainable Development

Egypt has spearheaded a large number of mega national projects to serve Sustainable Development Goals and give momentum  to the Egyptian economy.

CSR Egypt has managed to sum up Egypt’s main national projects in a very short video to highlight Egypt’s achievements which are meant to accelerate the march of development in order to attain SDGs.

The New Suez Canal was a landmark project accomplished by the Egyptian government.

The project aimed at boosting hard currency earnings for the Egyptian national income; increasing the doubled parts of the Suez Canal to 50%; shortening the transit time from 18 hours to 11 hours for the southbound convoy; and shrinking the waiting time for vessels to become three hours at most instead of 8-11 hours, the matter that will cut down on trip cost and make the Suez Canal more attractive for ship owners.

The new canal attracted more ships to use the Suez Canal, and add to the Canal classification as an important international maritime route. It was also meant to  increase the number of ships that the canal can handle on a daily basis in order to cope with the expected growth of world trade; support the Suez Canal Area Development Project and enhance the Egyptian national economy and turn Egypt into an international logistics center.

The daily average of ships transiting the new Suez Canal is expected to reach 97 ships by the year 2023, up from 49 ships at present.

The Suez Canal revenues are expected to hit $ 13.226 billion in 2023, up from $ 5.3 billion at present. The increase – which is equal to 259% – shall positively contribute to Egypt’s national income of hard currencies; and create job opportunities for young people living at the Canal Zone, Sinai, and neighboring governorates.

The government has also launched the New Administrative Capital project – 35 KM east of Cairo – with an aim to give momentum to the Egyptian economy through incentivizing development projects.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi gave the green-light to the $45 billion project in 2015.

The 170, 000-feddan capital is a different type of urban community that will be smart, safe, sustainable and environmentally friendly. The city will be integrated with designs of buildings, neighborhoods, and landscape. To ensure air quality, the city will be equipped with air pollution sensors, while featuring a green river, an unprecedented green space in Egypt. The city is also planned to be a high-tech hub via having the country’s first technological knowledge city, similar to Smart Village, to host research, innovation, and entrepreneurship centers in the fields of advanced digital technologies, like the internet of things, artificial intelligence, embedded systems, and electronic designs. Therefore, the new capital is incomparable.

So far, Egypt has completed more than half of the government district in the New Administrative Capital.

Earlier this year, the country’s planning ministry said around 50,000 state employees are planned to be relocated to new offices in the mega city in 2020.

The government district is intended to house 29 ministries, and other state institutions, including the cabinet and parliament buildings.

The new capital will also offer homes for at least 6.5 million people and has an international airport, whose trial operation started on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Egypt received a Guinness World Records’ certificate on Rod El-Farag Axis Bridge (Tahya Misr Bridge) passing over the Nile, for being the widest suspension bridge in the world at a width of 67.36 meters.

The Armed Forces Engineering Authority and the Arab Contractors Company joined forces to set up Rod El-Farag axis, the largest cable-stayed bridge in the world, according to Genius Records. The bridge helps to ease traffic congestion in the capital Cairo and link it to the country’s far north.

As many as 4,000 engineers, technicians and other workers have contributed to the construction of the bridge at a total cost of EGP 5 billion.

The total length of the Rod al-Farag Axis Bridge is 16.7 kms divided into five bridges that connect a number of areas. The longest of these bridges is Shobra neighborhood bridge, followed by the Ring Road intersection bridge. The other three bridges are Warraq Bridge, Western Nile Bridge, and the Eastern Nile Bridge.

The project is one of the most important projects by the National Network of Roads. It will transfer traffic densities coming from east of Cairo to Alexandria Desert Road, Matrouh, and El-Alamein highway so that they will not pass through the heart of Cairo.

The project starts from Tere’t al-Ismailia Street then passes through Shubra al-Mazalat area to the west of the Ring Road in the direction of Alexandria Desert Road. The total length of the axis is 16.7 km in both directions. It is the first huge suspension bridge implemented in Egypt.

Serving SDG 2 on zero hunger, Egypt has been keen to launch the largest fish farm in the Middle East; namely the “Ghalyoun fish farm” project in Kafr El Sheikh on the Mediterranean Sea. This project has secured more than 5,000 job opportunities.

Egypt has also given the go-ahead to several clean new and renewable energy projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 on ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

The discovery of Zohr gas field, the largest gas discovery ever made in Egypt and in the Mediterranean Sea, will help Egypt realize self-sufficiency of energy and become a regional energy hub.

The natural gas production of Zohr field in the deep waters of the Mediterranean Sea is expected to rise to 2.5bn cubic feet per day by the end of next month, compared to the current 2.3bn cubic feet.

Egypt has taken a major stride by establishing the world’s largest solar power plant of Benban in the Upper Egypt governorate of Aswan at 3.5 billion dollars investments.

The Benban solar power project, whose production capacity is estimated  at a total of 1.8 gigawatts, is considered to be one of the largest solar generation facilities in the world. The project’s purpose is to contribute to Egypt’s energy self-sufficiency.

In March 2019, the Benban solar park won a best-project annual award by the World Bank Group. This was the first time Egypt to win the WB award.

Egypt has been pumping in billions of pounds to meet the dramatic increase in power demand by upgrading, modernizing and expanding its power infrastructure and networks.

At end of the video which highlighted the aforementioned mega national projects, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi wondered “Is there hope or not?” and he was quick to answer “definitely there is hope.”