249m cubic meters of water-saturated sand lifted at new Suez Canal project

A total of 249.405 million cubic meters of water-saturated sand have so far been lifted at the new Suez Canal project, a report issued by the project's executive administration said Friday.

The figure represents 95.28 percent of the target of 258 million cubic meters, the report said.

Currently, 33 dredgers are working on the project's three sectors, the report said.

Up to 12 dredgers stopped operating at the new Suez Canal Project, which is scheduled to open on August 6.

The enlarged Suez Canal will allow ships to sail in both directions at the same time over much of the canal's length. This is expected to decrease waiting hours from 11 to 3 hours for most ships and to double the capacity of the Suez Canal from 49 to 97 ships a day.

Revenues from the Suez Canal would jump from 5 billion dollars to 12.5 billion dollars annually.

The construction of the new canal was initially scheduled to take five years. It was then first reduced to three years and finally ordered by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to be completed in one year only.