Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have signed an agreement for the European development bank to provide €100m of finance for the Cairo metro.

The financing will be used to acquire 13 train sets for the Cairo metro line 2, according to Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr, who signed the agreement at MEED’s Egypt Megaprojects conference in Cairo on 8 December.

Nasr said the improvements to Line 2 will increase capacity and fleet availability from “79 per cent to 88 per cent.”

The agreement was also signed with Transport Minister Saad el-Geyoushi and a delegation from the EBRD.

On 11 November Egypt’s National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) awarded a consortium led by the local Orascom Construction a deal for the construction of the third phase of the Cairo Metro’s Line 3.

The scope includes both civil and electromechanical work.

Consortium members include the UK’s Colas Rail, France’s Alstom and the local Arab Contractors.

Alstom has reported that its part of the contract is valued at about $204m, while Orascom said its part of the contract is worth about $113m.