Controversy Surrounding Egypt’s Suez Canal Expansion Project: Wasteful Spending or Strategic Investment?

Basil Al Sayed
Egypt
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

Watan-The Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s regime plans a new project that Egyptians see as a threat to the state’s budget. It aims to dig a parallel canal to the Suez Canal – the Suez Canal Expansion project – raising concerns of billions of dollars being wasted again.

This comes after the failure of Egypt’s giant projects, directly commissioned by Sisi without any studies, leading to a debt disaster crippling the Egyptian economy, on the verge of collapse.

Many Egyptians have expressed their rejection and criticism of the proposed project on social media, arguing that the “New Suez Canal” project, a similar initiative to the current proposal, was the cause of the foreign currency crisis, prompting the flotation decision in 2016.

“Wanton squandering of public money”

Egyptian journalist Gamal Sultan affirmed on the “X” platform that the project “is indeed very dangerous to Egyptian national security and will reinforce the isolation of Sinai, increasing the risks of its occupation (Sinai has been occupied twice under military rule).”

He also believed that the project “weakens Egypt’s ability to protect and defend itself militarily and security-wise.”

Sultan explained in his tweet: “Crossing one water barrier in the October 73 war was described as a military miracle, so how about when you have two water barriers ahead of you, crossing them would be impossible, no matter how weak the opponent.”

The Egyptian journalist added about the new Suez Canal project: “This project is a wanton squandering of public money in a poor country dependent on aid and drowning in debt, facing extremely difficult financial obligations regarding the food, drink, and medicine of its citizens even within its minimal limits. Its current ruler is forced to sell parts of the homeland and its properties to foreign countries to repay the debts that have entangled the country or to try to save it from sinking.”

Gamal Sultan wondered: “What folly is it to think of borrowing several more billions of dollars, worsening the country’s plight, to make a project that might – I repeat: might – improve traffic flow in the canal after thirty years.”

Dr. Yahya al-Qazzaz said, “The duplication of the Suez Canal, with a length of 192 meters, at a time when the number of transiting ships is decreasing and financial resources are dwindling, is plunging into further debt, justified by offering it for sale under the guise of partnership and management due to funding shortages and completing facilities.”

The Egyptian politician emphasized, attacking the Sisi regime, that “Egypt’s sale will not stop until the departure of a regime addicted to selling or until the people stand to prevent the sale.”

Details of the New Suez Canal Project

The head of the Suez Canal Authority, Major General Osama Rabie, addressed the details of the Suez Canal Expansion project, speaking about what he described as “the full duplication study of the Suez Canal, with two global companies preparing feasibility studies for the project.”

Among the highlights of Major General Osama Rabie’s statements regarding the details of the full duplication project of the Suez Canal navigational route:

  • The project is in the study phase, which takes approximately 16 months, including feasibility studies, environmental studies, engineering and civil studies, soil research, dredging, and other studies.
  • The financing process will be carried out from the investment budget of the authority without imposing any additional burdens on the general state budget.
  • The preliminary studies for the duplication of the Suez Canal were presented to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
  • The attacks by the Houthis affected the canal’s income by reducing the number of ships by 4%.
  • The dollar revenue from the Suez Canal decreased by 51% due to Houthi attacks.
  • The Suez Canal is undertaking several developmental projects for maritime transport services, as well as improving the southern sector of the canal.

Major General Osama Rabie added that “implementing the project to develop the navigational route of the canal with the minor lakes aims to double the 10-kilometer area to join the Suez Canal, and the new Suez Canal will be 82 kilometers long instead of 72 kilometers to increase the number of ships.”

One of the popular pages criticized the alleged project and what it described as the squandering of Egyptians’ money on failed projects, stating: “With the money from the wisdom deal, people were wondering whether the government would correct the economic path or continue on the same path with the same major projects, with the same major problem that these projects create in diverting attention and investment from structurally reforming the economy.”

It continued: “The truth is, the government did not correct its course and quickly responded to people that it is continuing in this way. This way of thinking is the absence of any institutionalism in any state governed by allowing the head of the authority to present a project approved by the president without studying all its aspects, despite the fact that this is a big project with huge costs.”

Ahmed Moussa “applauds” as usual!

Immediately, some media figures affiliated with the Sisi regime began to support the proposed project.

The media figure close to the regime, Ahmed Moussa, mentioned in turn that “the state is now working on having two Suez Canals, 192 km long, to solve the problem of ships waiting for two to three hours.”

Moussa added that “there is supposed to be a project to duplicate the Suez Canal with 100% security, pointing out that in the past, 70/80 ships used to pass daily, and after President Sisi’s approval of the project to duplicate the Suez Canal, ship traffic through Egypt will increase, and the transit time will be reduced to about 9 hours.”

Following Ahmed Moussa’s statements, electronic fly swarms began to promote the alleged project’s importance and claim that it would bring treasures to Egypt and Egyptians.

Sisi’s leak about the Suez Canal

A leaked recording circulated on social media platforms of a phone call attributed to the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi stirred widespread controversy after it contained discussions about a trillion-dollar deal in exchange for selling the Suez Canal to foreign countries for 99 years.

The leaked recording, which caused a stir on social media – its exact recording time is not known – contained a purported phone call from Sisi with an unidentified individual discussing the details of the alleged deal and Egypt’s stance on it, stating it as an old plan being prepared for years.

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