CAIRO
Egyptian workers have finalized dry digging work on the new Suez Canal project, a military official overseeing the scheme said Thursday.
The route is now ready for furnishing work after 230 million cubic meters were dug along 35 kilometers, Gen. Kamel al-Wazir, head of Egypt's Armed Forces Engineering Corps, told reporters.
Last August, Egypt began digging a 72-kilometer waterway parallel to the Suez Canal at a total cost of $8 billion to facilitate maritime traffic and reduce the time needed for ships to cross from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.
The new waterway is part of Egypt's ambitious Suez Canal Corridor Development project.
The project aims to boost traffic through the strategic waterway and bring more foreign currency to Egypt, the economy of which has been battered by three years of post-Arab Spring turmoil.
A number of factories and service projects are expected to be created in the area, with a view to tapping fresh sources of foreign currency.
