Egypt: World Bank Supports Railways Restructuring Additional Financing
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved a loan for Egypt in the amount of $ 330 million as additional financing for the Egypt National Railways Restructuring Project.
The additional financing will contribute to achieving the objective of the Egypt National Railways Restructuring Project (ENRRP), which is to assist the Government in improving the reliability, efficiency and safety of the railways’ services through signaling and track renewal investments and the modernization of Egypt National Railways (ENR) management and operating practices in order to enhance the railways’ sector responsiveness to economic and social needs and to strengthen the financial viability of ENR.
Passengers and businesses are two principal target beneficiaries of ENRRP. Low-income passengers in particular, will benefit from safer, more reliable and faster services; whereas businesses, with respect to freight transport, will have access to a much larger range of more reliable rail services.
“We are pleased to continue supporting the transport sector in Egypt and the ongoing reforms in the railways sector that aim at creating safer, more dynamic, responsive, and competitive rail services,” said A. David Craig, Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti.
“At the same time, this support is in line with the Bank’s Country Assistance Strategy which identifies enhancing the provision of public services as a key objective to achieve sustainable growth,” he added.
The additional financing will finance the modernization of signaling along the Beni Suef –Asyut line, between Alexandria - Asyut.
“When completed, this section will continue the modernization of signaling systems on the line Alexandria – Asyut, which is part of the busiest corridor of the railways network, with a view to make it the most modern in terms of safety standards,” said Michel Bellier, the World Bank Task Team Leader.
The original project is financing needed investments in signaling systems from Arab el-Raml to Alexandria (on the Cairo-Alexandria line), in addition to financing priority track-renewal works for 200 km of track along the Cairo-Aswan line (149 km on four sections of track) and the Benha-Port Said line (501 km on two sections of track).
This article was originally posted on Egypt - Sudan Business Communities
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