The latest on our transport infrastructure overhaul: Transport Minister Kamel El Wazir phoned in to El Hekaya last night to give Amr Adib the latest updates on a host of transport overhaul projects.

Your Ring Road commute will stop being hellish soon: The Ring Road expansion to widen the freeway and add a bus rapid transit (BRT) lane is nearly complete, with the expansion of the so-called middle Ring Road that runs from the Autostrad through New Cairo, Suez Road, Belbeis, and El Marg to the Shobra-Banha road now 100% complete, El Wazir said (watch, runtime: 6:16). The expansion of the stretch of the freeway running from El Assar corridor to the Alexandria agricultural road will be done by the end of the month, according to the minister. Once these expansions are complete, the ministry will finalize outfitting the freeway with new intelligent transport system (ITS) cables and upgrading the electricity network, with an eye to complete all of this by February, El Wazir said.

LRT trials are now underway: The planned Al Salam City-new capital-Tenth of Ramadan City light rail train (LRT) is about 95% complete and the ministry is currently working on trial operations for the electric line, El Wazir said. The trials are set to wrap by the end of March, with an eye to launch the line in April, according to the minister (watch, runtime: 3:25).

Abu Qir metro upgrade on track: Construction work on the Abu Qir-Alexandria metro conversion project will begin in January or February, El Wazir said (watch, runtime: 02:22). El Wazir added that the current rail line will continue operating until all design plans are complete, without disclosing when that will be. The new electrified metro will be 22 km long in its first phase, connecting Abu Qir to Alexandria’s Mahatet Masr, and will connect to Borg El Arab in later stages.

Elsewhere: Explaining Egypt’s new “political consultation mechanism” with the GCC: Egypt kicked off a new consultation mechanism with the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) yesterday, which is designed to tighten ties between Egypt and the Gulf on regional and international issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry explained to El Hekaya’s Amr Adib. In the first meeting under the new mechanism, which Shoukry attended in Riyadh yesterday, Egypt and the GCC members discussed the current situations in Libya, Sudan, and Afghanistan. The GCC ministers also backed Egypt on its position in its negotiations with Sudan and Ethiopia on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Shoukry told Adib (watch, runtime: 7:46)