Manpower PM to visit new Suez Canal site tomorrow

Manpower Minister Nahed el Ashri will visit new Suez Canal site on Monday to offer 10 tons of foodstuff and 10,000 mineral water bottles from the ministry to workers.

The minister will also give a 200-pound feast bonus to each worker who took part in digging the new lane that runs alongside the existing canal.

At the end of the day, the minister will host a luncheon for 2,000 workers.

This is the tenth aid convoy organized by the ministry to the Canal site since digging of the new lane began one year ago.

Aid convoys are expected to reach 20 by the time the Canal is open, slated August 6.

The minister will also honor workers of the project and army commanders who supervised this project.

The enlarged canal will allow ships to sail in both directions at the same time over much of the canal's length.

This is expected to decrease waiting hours from 11 to 3 hours for most ships and to double the capacity of the Suez Canal from 49 to 97 ships a day.

The construction of the new canal was initially scheduled to take three years but President Abdel Fattah El Sisi gave orders to complete the project in one year only.

Revenues from the Suez Canal are expected to jump from 5 billion dollars to 12.5 billion dollars annually.