Suez Canal development is key

Egypt's Minister of Investment Osama Saleh Cairo - Mohammed Abdullah Egypt's Minister of Investment, Osama Saleh, has vowed to push forward with several key national programmes, including the Suez Canal Development Axis project. In a exclusive statement to Arab Today, Saleh denied that authorities were planning to freeze the project following the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi. He added that the proposal has been in the pipeline for several years, and no single Egyptian president can claim to have responsibility for its development. Saleh said that the ministry is working very hard to improve the investment climate in Egypt in order to attract more investments to the Egyptian market in the near future. The Suez Canal Development Axis project comprises the construction of major ports, industrial cities, major residential centres and mega-agricultural projects along the entire length of the canal. Around 450,000 acres of land will be put under cultivation and three tunnels will be built to link the two banks of the Suez Canal zone, which will become a "bridge for development" in the Sinai. It is envisioned that the project will take at least 20 years to implement, which therefore means that it will require the framework of a carefully devised national plan and realistic working agenda. The project is expected to create around a million jobs.