The EU Bank supports urban transport in Egypt

The European Investment Bank (EIB), and the Arab Republic of Egypt have signed a EUR 1.128 billion agreement to support investments in the rehabilitation and expansion of metro and tram systems in Alexandria and Cairo.

The EIB financing will contribute to increase the availability and improve the quality of public transport systems in the two cities where 30-35% of the country’s population live and work. This new operation is in line with the EU Bank’s climate action objectives and comes in support of the government’s national priorities.

EIB financing will support three large-scale projects in the sector. The first investment will support the rehabilitation and extension of the existing 13.8 km long El-Raml tram in Alexandria. The second one will support the rehabilitation and upgrade of an underused 22 km long urban railway in Alexandria into a high-frequency metro “Abu Qir Metro”, adding metro stops and improving road safety by removing at-grade crossings. The third project will support the rehabilitation of the 23 km long metro line 2 in Cairo that has been in operation for 23 years and requires urgent upgrades of its electrical and mechanical systems.

In addition to the EIB’s financing, the EIB Economic Resilience Initiative and the EU Neighbourhood Investment Programme (EU NIP) provided grants for technical assistance and advisory supporting the preparation of the three projects.

These investments will lead to GHG emissions reduction, due to the expected modal shift and will therefore contribute to the Bank’s Climate Action objective, as well as to the implementation of Egypt’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), as defined in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change of December 2015.