The Governor of Alexandria, Abdul Aziz Qansua, has reportedly announced that the construction of the Alexandria Metro will begin in the first quarter of 2020, at a cost of $1.05 billion. It will be implemented over two years in three phases.

The governor explained that the technical and financial studies of the project have been completed and it will be assigned to a Chinese company, while the finalisation of the project’s design has already been done and reviewed.

“What remains now is to lay down the foundation stone for this new and most anticipated underground transport system which is projected to ease traffic congestion in the streets of Egypt’s second largest city,” stated the governor.

The first phase will extend from the Abu Qir railway station to the Misr station, the second phase will start from Misr station to the Max station, and finally the third stage will extend from the Max station to Alkyl and then 21km to Matrouh road.

Upon completion, the metro will run from the Alexandria city’s innermost eastern point at Abu Qir to Borg Al Arab in the west, passing by the city’s most important and populated stations, with a holding capacity of 10,000 to 15,000 commuters an hour.

Currently, Egypt has the oldest train systems in the Middle East and Africa, operating in the capital city and transporting  around 3 million people, every day.