Cairo – Mubasher: The Egyptian military has provided a large-scale engineering work in the establishment of Giza-based Grand Egyptian Museum megaproject, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Monday.
Set to be opened in 2020, the military has contributed to securing domestic components such as materials and stone cladding for the $1.1billion project in a bid to reduce imports with high prices, the project’s director Tarek Tawfik told the AP.
“Today, despite all the increases in costs and the floating of the Egyptian pound, it’s quite amazing that the project will be completed, thanks to good management and value engineering,” Tawfik added.
Egypt’s Orascom Construction and Belgium-based Besix have been evenly implementing the megaproject construction since 2004.
The AP further indicated that the North African nation secured initial loans at a value of $320 million from the Japanese authorities during 2006, along with $450 million facility in 2016.
The megaproject is expected to improve Egypt’s economy to be ranked among the world’s 50 largest nations, according to the World Factbook’s data.
Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, has launched bids “to find someone to operate the site”.
