Egypt’s ‘gift to the world’ cost $8 billion and probably wasn’t necessary
By Erin Cunningham and Heba Habib
August 6
(Satellite imagery from Landsat)
There was no public feasibility study, just an order from the new president. He wanted Egypt to dig a new Suez Canal. Oh, and he wanted it completed in a year.
That was in August 2014. And now, amid much pomp and circumstance, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi will inaugurate the new waterway -- an expansion of the original, really -- as what his government is calling Egypt’s “gift to the world.”
For the last few weeks, the country has been bombarded with messages, slogans, lights, and propaganda – all extolling the virtues of the new Suez Canal. It will double shipping traffic and change the world, officials say. In a countdown to the opening, the flagship state newspaper said: “48 hours… and the Egyptian dream is completed.” The first ship passed through the new waterway on Thursday.
Less important amid the hyper-nationalist fervor, it seems, is the fact that the $8 billion expansion of one of the world’s most important waterways probably wasn’t necessary. Its expensive construction seems even less urgent for a cash-strapped country like Egypt.
When the original Suez Canal was finished in 1869, it transformed world trade by linking the Red and Mediterranean Seas, cutting the travel distance for ships between Europe and Asia almost in half. It was a boon for Egypt’s economy and the country’s standing on the world stage.
But today’s expansion, a 23-mile passage that runs parallel to the canal, won’t have nearly the same impact on global commerce, experts say.
It will likely only skim a few hours off the time vessels wait to traverse the canal. Global shipping, economists say, has been sluggish since the world financial collapse in 2009.
“This is politics. [The government] wants to give the impression we are entering a new phase of the Egyptian economy,” said Ahmed Kamaly, an economics professor at the American University in Cairo. Egypt’s economy tanked with the turmoil of the Arab Spring, when foreign reserves plummeted and the tourism industry suffered.
“It’s all propaganda,” Kamaly said of government’s grand figures and promises of a revived national economy. “The benefit is overestimated.”
Those pledges of a quick-fix for Egypt’s economy may backfire on Sissi, who last year called on Egyptians to finance the new canal through state-issued bonds. Citizens funded the project in just a few days.
But as poverty bites hard on ordinary Egyptians, discontent with Sissi’s government is likely to grow. For now, paper lanterns and white twinkling lights hang across Cairo’s Tahrir Square. In the city’s wealthy neighborhoods, one bakery is selling Suez-themed cupcakes in celebration of the canal.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...llion-and-probably-wasnt-necessary/?tid=sm_tw
By Erin Cunningham and Heba Habib
August 6
(Satellite imagery from Landsat)
There was no public feasibility study, just an order from the new president. He wanted Egypt to dig a new Suez Canal. Oh, and he wanted it completed in a year.
That was in August 2014. And now, amid much pomp and circumstance, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi will inaugurate the new waterway -- an expansion of the original, really -- as what his government is calling Egypt’s “gift to the world.”
For the last few weeks, the country has been bombarded with messages, slogans, lights, and propaganda – all extolling the virtues of the new Suez Canal. It will double shipping traffic and change the world, officials say. In a countdown to the opening, the flagship state newspaper said: “48 hours… and the Egyptian dream is completed.” The first ship passed through the new waterway on Thursday.
Less important amid the hyper-nationalist fervor, it seems, is the fact that the $8 billion expansion of one of the world’s most important waterways probably wasn’t necessary. Its expensive construction seems even less urgent for a cash-strapped country like Egypt.
When the original Suez Canal was finished in 1869, it transformed world trade by linking the Red and Mediterranean Seas, cutting the travel distance for ships between Europe and Asia almost in half. It was a boon for Egypt’s economy and the country’s standing on the world stage.
But today’s expansion, a 23-mile passage that runs parallel to the canal, won’t have nearly the same impact on global commerce, experts say.
It will likely only skim a few hours off the time vessels wait to traverse the canal. Global shipping, economists say, has been sluggish since the world financial collapse in 2009.
“This is politics. [The government] wants to give the impression we are entering a new phase of the Egyptian economy,” said Ahmed Kamaly, an economics professor at the American University in Cairo. Egypt’s economy tanked with the turmoil of the Arab Spring, when foreign reserves plummeted and the tourism industry suffered.
“It’s all propaganda,” Kamaly said of government’s grand figures and promises of a revived national economy. “The benefit is overestimated.”
Those pledges of a quick-fix for Egypt’s economy may backfire on Sissi, who last year called on Egyptians to finance the new canal through state-issued bonds. Citizens funded the project in just a few days.
But as poverty bites hard on ordinary Egyptians, discontent with Sissi’s government is likely to grow. For now, paper lanterns and white twinkling lights hang across Cairo’s Tahrir Square. In the city’s wealthy neighborhoods, one bakery is selling Suez-themed cupcakes in celebration of the canal.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...llion-and-probably-wasnt-necessary/?tid=sm_tw
