'New' Suez Canal 'fallacious': Pro-Morsi bloc
Egyptian authorities tout Suez Canal project as a 'gift to the world'
CAIRO
The main support bloc of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has described the expansion of the Suez Canal as "fallacious".
Sisi is set to officially open the new shipping route on Thursday, which is touted by Egyptian authorities as "Egypt's gift to the world".
In statement released Thursday, the National Alliance for the Support of Legitimacy called on Egyptians not to be deceived by what it described as Sisi's "fallacious" projects.
Originally planned as a three-year project, Sisi ordered the new shipping route to be completed in one year.
The mega-project includes a 35-km (22-mile) parallel waterway flanking the existing 145-year-old waterway. It also includes the deepening and widening of 37 km of the existing canal, which will cut transit times and allow larger vessels easier passage.
The pro-Morsi bloc called for a new "revolutionary wave" ahead of the second anniversary of the violent dispersal of two pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo.
In August 2013, Egyptian security forces violently dispersed two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo, killing hundreds.
"We call on the masses of the free people to stage a revolutionary wave until the end of August," the bloc said.
A former army chief, Sisi unseated Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, in a 2013 coup following protests against his rule.
