Sisi to unveil ‘new Suez Canal’ as Egypt makes history

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday inaugurates a “new” Suez Canal in a lavish and heavily secured ceremony, as Egypt seeks to boost its economy and international standing. PHOTO | file 

In Summary

Initial estimates suggested the new route would take up to three years to build, but Sisi set an ambitious target of 12 months to finish the project

Cairo. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday inaugurates a “new” Suez Canal in a lavish and heavily secured ceremony, as Egypt seeks to boost its economy and international standing.

But a threat by an Islamic militant group to execute a Croatian hostage kidnapped west of the capital threatened to overshadow the ceremony, showcased by authorities as proof that the country was safe.

The event in the port city of Ismailiya, due to be attended by several heads of state including French President Francois Hollande, comes two years after then army chief Sisi overthrew his Islamist predecessor.

Mohamed Morsi’s ousting unleashed a deadly crackdown on Islamists, and a jihadist insurgency has killed hundreds of soldiers east of the Suez Canal.

The Islamic State group’s Egyptian affiliate on Wednesday released a video threatening to execute Croatian hostage Tomislav Salopek, a worker with French geoscience company CGG, in 48 hours if female prisoners were not released.

Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic was due in Cairo on Thursday to try to secure his release.

Sisi broke ground on the canal project last August after being elected president after he promised to strengthen security and revive a dilapidated economy.

Initial estimates suggested the new route would take up to three years to build, but Sisi set an ambitious target of 12 months to finish the project.

It has been touted as a landmark achievement, rivalling the digging of the original 192-kilometre canal which opened in 1869 after almost a decade of work.

The new section, built at a cost of $9 billion and funded entirely by Egyptian investors, runs part of the way alongside the existing canal connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

“It’s an achievement for the people who managed to fund it as a national project and accomplished it through perseverance and hard work,” Sisi’s office has said.

It involved 37 kilometres of dry digging, creating what is effectively a “second lane”, and widening and deepening another 35 kilometres of the existing canal.

It will cut the waiting period for vessels from 18 hours to 11.(AFP