Egypt’s Cabinet is expected to grant final approval this year for a Chinese-led consortium to build and finance a light rail transit (LRT) scheme that will link the Cairo Metro Line 3 to the New Capital City.

The project is expected to be awarded via an EPC-plus-finance scheme, a source familiar with the project tells MEED.

It will extend 68km between the last terminal of Line 3 and the New Capital City.

The consortium is being led by China’s Avic in partnership with the China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group (CREEC).

It is understood that the technical and financial studies and recommendations for the project have been completed.

A commercial contract is scheduled to be drafted and presented for approval to the Export-Import (Exim) Bank of China, which will provide funding for the project.

Final government approval is expected once all potential amendments required by the export credit agency (ECA) are integrated into the contract, the source tells MEED.

“The Cabinet has already granted initial approval for the project. We hope to obtain final approval hopefully around the third quarter [of 2017],” the source said.

The National Authority for Tunnels (NAT), the government agency overseeing Cairo Metro, is understood to be currently reviewing the proposed business model for the scheme.

Construction work on the $1.2bn third phase of Cairo Metro Line 3 is expected to commence in March.