Cairo: Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi on Wednesday inaugurated a massive suspension bridge on the Nile, the last in a series of mega-projects aimed at renovating the country’s infrastructure and attracting investment.
The bridge runs from the north of the Egyptian capital to a desert road leading to the coastal city of Alexandria and is aimed at cutting frequent traffic congestion in sprawling Cairo
The 12km facility is believed to be the world’s widest suspension bridge, being 67.3 metres wide in both directions.
State media said that the bridge, officially named “Long Live Egypt Bridge” will enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the widest such facility.
It is envisaged to annually save around 300 million Egyptian pounds (Dh64.7 million) in fuel costs wasted in long car journeys on roads, state-run newspaper Al Ahram reported.
Since he took office in 2014, Al Sissi has been actively launching large-scale projects, including an expansion to the historic Suez Canal, in order to rejuvenate the country’s economy battered by unrest and militant attacks.
