The $8.5 billion extension to the Suez Canal came amid criticism that the hastily-built project was mainly aimed at reinforcing Sisi’s image.
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Egypt’s struggling economy could not afford to wait longer, al-Sissi said at the time.
“The new route is not the first”. The key global trade route is already one of Egypt’s top foreign currency earners, and is run by a semi-independent authority with 25,000 employees that is considered one of the country’s most competent bodies. It is going to be handled outside the ossified bureaucracy that has been holding us back.
The canal expansion is the centrepiece of a grand agenda to lift the most populous Arab nation out of poverty and secure Mr Sisi’s grip on power after he ousted elected Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following mass protests.Hazem Hosny, a professor of political science at Cairo University, said the project was intended to to burnish Mr Sisi’s credentials as “the great builder”.
The film also pointed to the sheer magnitude of the project. The jihadist organisation, Ansar Beit el Makdis – which rebranded and declared itself the “Sinai Province” or Wilayat Sina of the Islamic State (IS/Da’ish) – has grown particularly ambitious in the scale of its attacks on the Egyptian military, killing dozens of soldiers in the Sinai recently.
Militants have also targeted foreign interests, including the Italian Consulate in Cairo, which was hit with a auto bomb last month.
Egypt has witnessed turbulent times since 2011 during which two presidents were overthrown and the economy seized up.
Various dignitaries from around the world are attending Thursday’s ceremony. Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Mohammed Samir said extra troops have been deployed to “deal with threats and potential aggression”.
The government says it has taken major steps to prevent anyone from disrupting Thursday’s ceremony, and pro-government media have portrayed the canal extension itself as a victory over extremism.
In a recent television interview, the head of the Suez Canal Authority Mohab Mamish said the new channel had been a necessary undertaking for Egypt’s economy.
But he thinks more needs to be done to deal with the growing Egyptian population’s needs. “We remain concerned that Egypt’s security situation and poor business environment may deter investment”. Its completion, he said, was but the first of a 1,000-step journey Egyptians must take toward economic recovery.
He said around one million jobs are expected to be created over the next 15 years.
In the meantime, the canal extension has stirred intense national fervor.
“The message to the world behind that achievement is that Egyptians have already won their battle against the fogy thoughts and the rigid regimes and now they digging their way in the future’s desert towards a better life.” concluded Amer.
Ahmed Kamaly, an economist with the American University in Cairo, called the projections “wishful thinking”, commenting that “there was no viability study done, or known of, to assess the viability of the project”.
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If Egypt could pull off today’s event ‘without any compromising security incidents, they’re also going to use this as an opportunity to project a different image of Egypt, an image of Egypt as stable, able to carry out major public works, and defend competently against these jihadi enemies, ‘ Time magazine recently quoted Michael Hanna, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation in New York, as saying.
