KFAED signs $85.3mn funding agreement with Egypt for 350km long tunnel project in Sharm El Sheikh
Road will integrate the road network in the Sinai Peninsula and raise the level and of safety and reduce operating costs and transport time
Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) has signed a funding agreement worth $85.3 million with Egypt to finance the construction of the Tunnel Road project in Sharm El Sheikh.
In a statement, KFAED said that the scope of work for the project includes the construction of a road running about 350km long to a six-lane asphalt road – with three lanes in each direction and a width of 3.6m per lane. The middle island width will have a width of 12.2 – 37.5 metres and side shoulders for each 2.5 m wide and 0.6m internally.
The statement added that the project also includes water drainage works, protection and safety works, as well as consultancy services, including detail design, review and supervision of implementation.
Once complete, the project aims to integrate the road network in the Sinai Peninsula and raise the level of safety of its use and reduce operating costs and transport time, the statement said. In turn, this will contribute to the development efforts in project impact areas, while also boosting employment opportunities, as well as improving access to education and healthcare services for the population.
Egypt and Kuwait also inked a framework agreement to finance the second phase of the Sinai development programme at a value of $1 billion, up to 2022.
Dr Sahar Ahmed Mohamed Abdel Moneim Nasr, Egyptianegyupot Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, signed the agreement with Sheikh Sabah Al Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman, board of directors of KFAED in the presence of the visiting Kuwaiti Premier Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al Hamad Al Sabah and Egyptian PM Dr Mostafa Madbouly.
The Tunnel Road project is located in the Sinai Peninsula, and the road takes a north-south route along the west coast of the peninsula, linking Suez and South Sinai. It starts in Suez Governorate east of the canal at the intersection of Cross Road 1 with the road of the martyr Ahmed Hamdy tunnel, passing through rocky and mountainous areas, and ends in Sharm El-Sheikh, which is located in South Sinai, it added.
