An extra EUR 250 mn for Abu Qir metro, courtesy of EBRD: The project to convert Alexandria’s Abu Qir railway into an underground metro will be getting an additional EUR 250 mn from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, after the bank approved a formal loan request submitted by the government last year. The loan will go towards upgrading the electrification of the metro line, installing signalling and control systems, and purchasing rolling stock.

Europe is now covering the bill for more than two-thirds of the project’s EUR 1.6 bn sticker price. The EUR 250 mn in EBRD financing is in addition to EUR 750 mn from the European Investment Bank; the remaining financing for the project will come from the French Development Agency and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

EBRD has been upping its infrastructure investment in Egypt: Last week saw the bank agree to provide USD 29.6 mn to finance half of the development of the Sixth of October Dry Port. A EUR 3.05 mn grant from EBRD for the financing of Cairo Metro Line 1 was greenlit by Ittihadiya earlier this year, with the bank having provided EUR 205 mn for the line’s renovation two years prior.