Kuwaiti loan funding pipeline project

Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Ebeid yesterday attended the signing ceremony of a loan agreement between Egypt and the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development, under which the fund will contribute with 31 million dinars in loans to a project aimed to extend a natural gas pipeline between the Egyptian and Jordanian ports of Arish and Aqaba.

The agreement was signed by Petroleum Minister Sameh Fahmi and Badr Mashari al Humedi, the fund's director-general.

The project is aimed to increase the efficiency of making use of national gas resources through exporting the surplus to Jordan, as a first stage, then to Syria, Lebanon and other countries in later stages.

The project is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.

The loan will be paid back over in 20 years, including a three-year grace period, with an annual interest of 3.5 per cent.