Egyptian Airports Company (EAC) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) have reached a final agreement for financing the construction of a new passenger terminal at Borg el-Arab International airport in Alexandria.
According to a source with knowledge of the scheme, Jica is providing $180m in financing. The loan’s annual interest rate is set at 0.1 per cent payable within 40 years and with a 10-year grace period.
The new terminal will be built on a 36,000 square-metre site and designed to handle up to 4 million passengers annually.
An EAC spokesperson told MEED in May that it expects to imminently receive the letter of concurrence from Jica, following which it will proceed to tender the main contract for the project.
“Once the letter is received, the EAC will go to market with the main construction tender … most likely in June,” the source told MEED.
Borg el-Arab International processed 2.21 million passengers in 2017, according to data from the Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation (EHCAAN).
EAC expects to open a new airport, Sphinx International, in the third quarter of 2018. Located on the Cairo to Alexandria desert road, the airport will handle up to 600 passengers an hour.
The Egyptian military financed the construction of Sphinx International, as well as two other airports under construction: New Capital Cairo and Bredwell International.
Passenger traffic at Egyptian airports rose by 10 per cent in 2017, the second-highest growth rate since 2011, when the Arab Spring triggered a 27 per cent drop in passenger traffic.
Russia’s decision to lift its two-year ban on Egypt-bound flights following the terrorist attack on a Metrojet plane over the Sinai Peninsula in 2015 is expected to sustain passenger growth in Egypt’s main airports this year.
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