ISMAILIA: With much pomp and fanfare, Egypt yesterday unveiled a major extension of the Suez Canal billed by its patron, President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi as a historic achievement needed to boost the country’s ailing economy after years of unrest.
Sisi, wearing his ceremonious military uniform and trademark dark sunglasses on a sweltering August day, flew to the site aboard a military helicopter and immediately boarded a monarchy-era yacht that sailed to the venue of the ceremony.
The yacht was flanked by navy warships as helicopters, jet-fighters and military transport aircraft flew overhead. A visibly triumphant Sisi stood on the vessel’s upper deck, waving to well-wishers and folklore dance troupes performing on shore. At one point, a young boy in military uniform and holding an Egyptian red, black and white flag joined him on deck.
Later in the day, the president changed to a dark grey business suit and took his seat at the main stand for an elaborate ceremony in the canal city of Ismailia, attended by foreign dignitaries and organised amid tight security measures.
The unveiling of the $8.5bn extension has been trumpeted as a historic achievement by pro-government media and has revived the nationalistic personality cult built around the 60-year-old Sisi, who as army chief led the overthrow of an Islamist president in 2013 and was elected to office last year.
Egypt’s black, white and red flags adorn the streets across much of the nation, along with banners declaring support for Sisi and hailing his latest achievement.
The new Suez Canal extension involved digging and dredging along 72km of the 193km canal, making a parallel waterway at its middle that will facilitate two-way traffic. With a depth of 24 meters (79 feet), the canal now allows the simultaneous passage of ships with up to 66 ft. draught. The project was initially estimated to take three years, but Sisi ordered it completed in one.
The government says the project, funded entirely by Egyptian investors, will more than double the canal’s annual revenue to $13.2bn by 2023, injecting much-needed foreign currency into an economy that has struggled to recover from the 2011 uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak and the years of turmoil that followed.
Economists and shippers have questioned the value of the project, saying the increased traffic and revenues the government is hoping for would require major growth in global trade, which at this point seems unlikely.
But the man-made waterway linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, which was inaugurated in 1869, has long been seen as a symbol of Egyptian national pride.
AP
