New Suez Canal finished in third of originally estimated time

Foreign media hailed the new Suez Canal project that was achieved within only one year in a third of the originally estimated time.

The Guardian said that Egypt is set to inaugurate a major expansion of the Suez canal finished in a third of the originally estimated time.

The $8bn project had been projected to take three years but on the orders of President Abdel Fatah El Sisi was completed after one year, the paper added.

"This is a huge undertaking on a world scale. It has been completed in a time that is frankly astonishing," the Guardian quoted secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping as saying.

Also, the Business Insider said that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi launched the project in August 2014 and set an ambitious target of digging the expanded canal within a year.

The paper added that the canal is part of an ambitious plan to develop the surrounding area into an industrial and commercial hub that would include the construction of ports and provide shipping services.

The new route is considered a "national project" that aims to kick-start an economy battered by years of political turmoil since the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak in 2011, the Business Insider said

It is expected to more than double Suez revenues from $5.3 billion expected at the end of 2015 to $13.2 billion in 2023, the paper quoted Egyptian officials as saying.

For its part, the International Business Times said that the first trial run of Egypt's new Suez canal has been successful.

The paper added that the new 72 km canal project aims at speeding up traffic along the existing waterway and in cutting the waiting period of vessels besides a new boost in revenues for Egypt.

The paper said that the old Suez Canal remains a vital source of hard currency for Egypt and served as a buffer in withstanding the slide in revenue from tourism and dipping foreign investment that followed turmoil from the Arab Spring uprising in 2011.