Egypt said it was seeking funding for the initial phase of the fourth underground metro line, a source at the Ministry of Transport told Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. The new metro line is expected to reduce congestion in the areas of Al-Malek Al-Saleh, Giza, Haram and Sixth of October.The same source said the government has submitted an official request to the Japanese Embassy in Cairo seeking a long-term loan to finance construction. The Ministry of International Cooperation said Egypt is requesting a particular type of loan which will enable payments over a 40-year period, the first 10 of which will be interest-free. With this type of loan, no less than 30 percent of the total repayment amount must be in the form of purchases of Japanese goods and services, the paper reported. Japan assigned its International Cooperation Agency the job of conducting studies and preparing a preliminary design for the line. The agency will also prepare a specifications booklet for the project, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported. The Cairo metro system consists of two operational lines; construction on a third line kicked off in 2006. The two lines carry around 700 million passengers a year. That amounts to an average of two million commuters daily. The third metro line--still under construction--extends from the northwest of greater Cairo at Imbaba, to the northeast at Heliopolis, and will eventually serve Cairo International Airport. Line three is expected to be fully operational by October 2019.
