After years of postponing the project, dredging of a new 9.5 kilometer-long channel that will allow vessels in the Mediterranean a twenty-four hour access to the East Port Said is about to become a reality.
The project, estimated to be worth around $60 million, was originally scheduled to be completed by 2012, but was delayed on several occasions.
According to some local media, winner of the tender for the new shipping lane in East Port Said will be announced in the next couple of days.
Unofficial sources say that U.S./Belgian consortium, the same one that took part in the construction of the New Suez Canal was the best bidder for the contract.
The 9.5 kilometer-long channel will have a depth of 18.5 meters, width of 250 meters and will provide all-day access to the port instead of current eight-hour.
If all goes according to schedule, works on the new channel could begin by mid-November.