Egypt’s PM Announces Japanese JICA’s $700M Fund For Cairo’s Fourth Metro Line Project
During the Egypt-Japan Business Forum on Sunday, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly stated Japan will provide funding worth 100 billion Japanese yen (about $733 million) to Egypt as the third tranche of the finance offered to carry out Cairo’s fourth metro line project. Madbouly and his peer, Fumio Kishida, co-chaired the Egypt-Japan Business Forum.
The agreement to fund the first phase of Cairo Metro’s fourth line was signed earlier today in the presence of both Kishida and President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.
The Japanese funding of Cairo Metro’s fourth line is one of the largest packages to support the plan to develop transportation in Egypt, Madbouly noted.
The fourth phase of the metro will help link Sixth of October City and the archaeological area around the Great Pyramids with the underground train network, the Egyptian PM explained.
Egypt has been cooperating with Japan to implement the first phase of the fourth metro line over the past decade via four concessional loans provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to the Egyptian state.
Egypt obtained the first tranche of the funding, worth 32.7 billion yen, in 2012; and signed the agreement on the second tranche, worth 41 billion yen, in December last year.
The new line will start operating in February 2028, according to a previous statement by JICA.
Late last year, Egyptian Minister of Transport Kamel El-Wazir said that Egyptian and Japanese are collaboratively implementing the first phase of the fourth metro line.
During the forum today, Madbouly said that Japanese direct investments increased by 52 percent in 2021, with around 87 Japanese companies operating in Egypt currently.
Meanwhile, trade exchange between the two countries reached an average of $1.3 billion over the past five years.
For his part, Kishida affirmed that Egypt has the potential to receive further Japanese investments.
Kishida arrived in Egypt on Saturday for a three-day visit as part of his four-nation Africa tour.
During his visit, Madbouly and Kishida also visited the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), carried out through a partnership between Egypt and Japan. Kishida hailed the museum as a “symbol of Egyptian-Japanese friendship”.
Kishida witnessed the signing of several MoUs and agreements between Egypt and Japan in communication and information technology, law, and the judiciary.
