Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation has signed a second memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the French Agency for Development (AFD) for a $114m loan that would go towards financing the rehabilitation of the 14km out-of-service tramway that links the Ramses and Almaza areas in Cairo.

The French loan follows the signing of a $1.2bn contract between the Egyptian government and France’s Vinci Construction Grands Projets for the third phase of Cairo Metro’s Line 3 in April.

The agency had earlier received a pledge from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to contribute $250m for the revival of the tramway.

The National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) has said it requires $500m and approximately three years to reconstruct the 14km tramway.

The EBRD will launch a consultancy tender for the project that would roughly cost $114,000 in the form of a grant to Egypt, the bank said in a statement.

Half of the EBRD contribution will be utilised to implement infrastructure works while the procurement of rolling stock and the operation and maintenance of the fleet will be undertaken by a private company using the second half of the EBRD contribution.

Terms of the EBRD loan have not been finalised. EBRD is understood to have invested a total of $1.9bn across 34 projects in Egypt since 2012, when it began operating in the country. These grants include supplying €100m for the acquisition of 13 trains for the Cairo Metro Line 2.