Egypt’s Transport Ministry plans to undertake discussions with the main phosphate mining operator in Abu Tartour to finance the estimated $350m upgrade of the rail line linking the region with the Safaga Port.

MEED understands the mineral line stopped operating way before the Arab Spring protests broke out in 2011.

“The government is seriously looking at reinstating the rail service… in line with strengthening Egypt’s mineral exports,” a source familiar with the plan tells MEED.

The source cites there is a major incentive for Phosphate Misr, the state-owned company operating the Abu Tartour phosphate mine, to agree in funding the project. “The line is already there so we don’t expect any issues or added costs in terms of land acquisition… there are also numerous unused freight wagons,” he says.

The updated budget for reviving the line is now significantly higher than the ministry’s original estimate of $100m.

Abu Tartour, located in Egypt’s New Valley governorate, lies 650 kilometres south of Cairo.

In 2016, Phosphate Misr signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a Chinese delegation, which plan to build a $1bn phosphate plant in Abu Tartour.

Last year, Egypt’s Trade and Industry Ministry also announced plans to develop three phosphate factories in the New Valley area. Total investment is expected to reach $1.1bn.

The project is part of the 30-year Golden Triangle project, which aims to take advantage of the country’s under-tapped mineral resources and develop the Upper Egypt area.

The Golden Triangle scheme covers several interrelated projects including fertiliser factories, phosphate ore processing facilities and facilities to process shale and limestone as a precursor to cement.

The Golden Triangle project focuses on a triangular-shaped area of Egypt that covers 6,000 square kilometres between the towns of Edfu, south of Quena, to Marsa Alam, on the Red Sea coast, to Safaga, which is located to the north of Marsa Alam.