Mubarak arrives in Toshka

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak arrived in Tuesday morning on a visit to Toshka giant project.

Before his arrival the President made a stopover at Abu Simbel, where he opened the Abu Simbel hospital.

President Mubarak is accompanied in this tour by premier Atef Ebeid.

The president is also accompanied by the deputy premier and the ministers of information, defence, interior, reconstruction, development and electricity as well as a large number of businessmen, a group of artists and writers and chief editors of newspapers.

Secretary of the Arab economic council Ahmed Guweili accompanied the president.

Speaking of the Toshka project president Mubarak said work at Toshka project will continue because the aim is to create a new valley for Egypt.

Following a welcoming speech at the Toshka venture, minister of water resources Mahmoud Abu Zeid gave a full explanation of the project by the help of charts and maps.

He pointed out that the venture is part of the state's development plans adding that 3.4 million feddans should be reclaimed by the year 2017.

He said the project lies along a canal that would provide from eight to 25 million cubic meters a day.

Digging operations regarding the canal were finalized but that coating process will take almost two years, Abu Zeid said.

He added that in January 2002 tests to pump the water will start.

Speaking of the housing communities here, he said that minister of housing Mohamed Ibrahim Soliman has already picked up 10,000 feddans on which the main residential area will be set up.

Soliman thean spoke of the houses to be built and said they will be one to two storey buildings only surrounded by greenery.