Egypt courts private investment in transport sector

The Egyptian government is planning to attract private sector investment in the road and rail sectors in an attempt to improve its transport network, the daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm reports.

Under the plans, foreign or Egyptian private companies will be invited to participate in public works through a build-operate-transfer model of project financing, whereby they are granted a concession to design, construct and then manage the facility in order to recover their investment.

One project reportedly slated for such financing is the construction of a new motorway linking the Shubra district in north Cairo with Benha to the north to ease congestion on the existing road, which is used by about 45,000 vehicles a day. The investment ministry reportedly has in mind projects worth a total of LE10 billion.

Until now public-private partnerships have largely been used to provide more social services and infrastructure including wastewater plants and hospitals. However a spate of road, rail and sea accidents in recent years has triggered calls for increased investment and improvements in the transportation sector.