New underground metro line in Cairo will move 4 million passengers

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday inaugurated the third phase of the second line of the metro tunnels from Cairo University in the southern west of the city to its remote north, passing under the Nile. The line is 20 km long.

Together with the first line, which was put into operation in 1987 and stretches 40 km, this new line will carry some 4 million passengers every day.

The Cairo metro tunnel which was constructed out by the "Intrenefra" consortium which includes some 16 French companies, is the first project of its sort in Africa. Total costs for the Cairo tunnels metro are estimated at US $2.7 billion.

Earlier, the Egyptian Ministry of Transport expressed its determination to inaugurate new lines for the metro in order to ease the traffic jams in greater Cairo, whose population is estimated at 12 million, and to link Cairo with the new cities on its outskirts.