The governments of Egypt and Sudan have announced plans to connect the Cairo-Cape Town railway route to the Sudanese capital Khartoum. Kamel El-Wazir, Egypt’s transport minister made the announcement and said the move aims to to boost connectivity in Africa through infrastructure.
“The Egyptian government is constructing the Cairo-Cape Town railway line to connect Egypt with other African countries,” said Kamel El-Wazir.
The Cairo-Cape Town railway line project is part of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s commitment to the African agenda for development. The Ministry of Transport is executing 360-kilometer rail lines inside Egyptian territory, in addition to a six-kilometer line across Nasser Lake to Wadi Halfa in Sudan. The government is also executing another line to connect the monorail stretching from Matrouh governorate with a special link to El-Saloum city.
Also Read:Governments of Egypt & Sudan to construct railway line linking both states
Growth, development and African integration
“We have high hopes for the Cairo-Cape Town railway line. The areas which will be included in the project inside South Sudan have been developed. We hope that South Sudan will be connected to Egypt via the railway line in two to three years,” said Dhieu Mathok Diing, South Sudanese minister of investment.
“Cooperation among Africa’s great economic powers like Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria with the rest of African countries makes us believe that we can achieve growth, development and African integration,” he added.
Meanwhile Egypt is also seeking to coordinate with the Libyan government to extend a railway line to the city of Benghazi, he said. According to El-Wazir, efforts exerted to develop land transport networks, railways, as well as sea and land ports have improved Egypt’s rank in the Road Quality Index featured in the Ease of Doing Business’ report.
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