The Egyptian government raised a storm of controversy in the Egyptian street during the past two days after announcing the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the global company "Siemens", to implement an integrated system for the rapid electric train in Egypt, with a length of about a thousand kilometers at the level of the Republic, at a total cost of 360 billion pounds ($ 23 billion).

The signing of the agreement between the two sides comes after the representatives of the German company met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, as the two sides agreed to immediately start implementing the line, which will start from the city of Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea coast to the new city of El Alamein, passing through the new administrative capital, the city of 6 October and a railway station. Present Alexandria and the city of Burj Al Arab.

The high-speed electric train project (Ain Sokhna-El Alamein) is 460 km in length and includes 15 stations with a designed train speed of 250 km / hour, with the aim of connecting the new administrative capital and new cities to the railway network to transport passengers and goods through a fast, modern and safe means of transport, according to a statement. Council of Ministers.

But activists and Twitter users talked about transparency in the cost of the project, as well as its priority in light of the suffering of economic and social sectors from deterioration due to the deficit of financial flows.

A large gap between the total cost announced by # Al-Sisi and the cost of the first stage announced by # Siemens raises doubts about the true cost of the #Electric Railroad project pic.twitter.com/9sG92LZ126

- Al Jazeera Egypt (@AJA_Egypt) January 15, 2021

Controversy, questions and ridicule

However, the winds may have flowed in ways that the ships did not desire, as the news that was supposed to be admired and satisfied by the Egyptians led to the "electrification" of the atmosphere and raised astonishment and astonishment on the one hand, and the ridicule and mockery of some on the other hand, and the amazement and admiration of a third party as well.

The largest project in the history of the Egyptian railway is not comparable to its cost as any other project in one sector, which is the transportation sector, neither the new Suez Canal project, nor the Siemens electrical stations, nor the Sinai Peninsula tunnels, nor the discoveries of gas and oil fields in the Mediterranean.

This project revived the controversy surrounding the new Suez Canal project that Sisi promoted immediately after he took power 6 years ago and was implemented in one year at a cost of $ 8 billion, amid promises to double the Suez Canal revenues to at least $ 13.2 billion in 2023, to reach 100 One billion dollars, according to the statements of the head of the Suez Canal Authority at the time, Lieutenant General Mohab Mamish, which has not happened so far.

Social media platforms have turned into arenas of tensions, accusations, defenses, and words received since the cost of the project was announced, between supporters, opponents and others who addressed the news through analysis, refutation and discussion.

An escalating controversy over the high-speed electric train project in # Egypt and its feasibility in light of its high cost pic.twitter.com/y3fWz0tAoQ

- Monitoring Network (@RassdNewsN) January 17, 2021

Defense and justification

In turn, Kamel al-Wazir - who is in charge of the project and the Minister of Transport (a former military) - revealed new surprises, including new costs and new routes not mentioned in the news of the signing of the agreement.

In a televised intervention to respond to the controversy over the cost, he said that the total length of the express electric train network reaches 1750 kilometers, explaining that the thousand kilometers announced during the past days are part of the project, and therefore there is an additional cost.

The minister explained that the total cost of the project may exceed $ 32 billion, meaning that the cost is subject to increase, which is a large and huge number.

He did not say where the Egyptian government will finance this giant project, at a time when the budget suffers from a large deficit and unprecedented debt.

The minister said only that the costs would be reimbursed to the German company after 6 years of the start of the project and over a period of 20 years.

But what is the German company’s share of the project? The minister says that the first phase of the express electric train will be 460 km long, linking Ain Sokhna and El Alamein, at an estimated cost of $ 8.2 billion, and Siemens will get $ 3 billion, and the rest for the Egyptian companies carrying out the work Construction (Orascom and the Arab Contractors).

Transparency and priorities

The project is facing widespread criticism and a torrent of questions without answers, the most urgent of which are: What about the Egyptian-Chinese alliance "Samcrete - the Arab Organization for Industrialization - the China Railway Construction Corporation" CCECC "and the China Corporation for Engineering and Civil Construction" CR (CRCC), which won the same tender on 4 September, to implement the express train project at a total cost of $ 9 billion.

The alliance won - according to local newspapers, quoting high-level sources - after the liquidation of 9 global alliances into two - the first is the winning alliance, and the second is the CREC alliance from China - German Siemens - France Railways - Orascom from Egypt - the Arab Contractors).

But the interesting thing is that the first tender was at a total cost of $ 9 billion only, and a length of 543 km and not a thousand km, and it also included stations (Ain Sokhna - October 6 - El Alamein - Burj Al Arab - Alexandria).

In this context, the Egyptian parliamentarian, Eng. Mohamed Farag, a former member of the Transport and Communications Committee, criticized what he called the "contradiction and lack of transparency" that accompanied the project since the start of its announcement, saying, "There is a lack of transparency and contradiction since thinking about establishing this project in 2017, and it was proposed in 2018. And it was said that its cost was about 70 billion pounds (4 billion dollars at the time) according to the then Minister of Transport Hisham Arafat. "

Faraj said in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net that in 2019 everyone was surprised that an Egyptian-Chinese alliance won the tender for the project at another cost, and a few days ago, the losing coalition was contracted at a value of EGP 360 billion, amid contradictions about the nature of the project, so is it a thousand kilometers long or 1700 kilometers.

Faraj pointed out that the project lacks a policy of priorities, clarity and transparency, and there is no priority in choosing train routes, and it should have been in cities with large population densities, and the minister's statements and government statement did not clarify where the project would be funded, its economic feasibility and financial returns.

Tweeters recalled Sisi's previous statements in which he spoke of refusing to finance projects to develop trains and railways, due to the enormous cost and weak economic returns, and they compared those statements related to transportation for all Egyptians and the high cost of the new electric train that only concerns the rich and the ruling regime, according to some of them.

Sisi's state is for the rich only .. The


government is building an express train at a cost of 360 billion pounds .. What is the problem?

pic.twitter.com/eLJeNTmWEn

- Monitoring Network (@RassdNewsN) January 16, 2021

In a rare comment from the billionaire Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris, he tweeted, asking why the express train did not arrive in Cairo or Hurghada.

The Egyptian Minister of Transport did not wait long for a response, and chose to appear with the journalist Amr Adib to respond to the controversy raised by the project on the one hand, and to try to limit the echoes of Sawiris’s tweet and embarrass him on the other hand, as he said that the Orascom company of the Sawiris family is participating in the project, and that Sawiris wants to The train arrives at Hurghada, where the family's El Gouna product is located, adding, "The train will arrive there, but you will pay for the station."

Anyone understands why this high-speed train is from Ain Sokhna to Al-Alamein ... not from Cairo, for example, or Hurghada?

- Naguib Sawiris (@NaguibSawiris) January 16, 2021

Tweeters criticized the failure of the project to serve all Egyptians, as it passes between desert cities where there is no population density, and only serves a few groups, and businessmen trade, far from the whereabouts of millions of Egyptians in Cairo and the Delta, and the first was spending money on other projects.

Some also questioned the Egyptian government's spending priorities policy, and why vital sectors such as health and education suffer from a lack of capabilities and resources, and their availability for specific projects.

Regarding Egypt postponing the payment of the first payments of the project - which turned out to be a loan, not investments - and promoting it as a "shrewdness", the Egyptian economist Mahmoud Wahba described it as an "excuse worse than sin," and attacked the policy of "the theory of who borrows does not pay" that it adopts Sisi's government, and generations to download the bill for those debts.

On the other hand, supporters of the Egyptian authorities met the news of the project with joy and promotion of what they described as the successive achievements of the system, stressing that the train would transport Egypt to the ranks of advanced countries in the field of transport and communications.

# Al-Sisi approves a loan of 360 billion pounds to build an electric train ... How will the citizen benefit from this development? # Egypt # Cairo pic.twitter.com/llj86tKllU

- Al Jazeera Mubasher (@ajmubasher) January 14, 2021

The German company, Siemens, is constructing a high-speed electric train line linking the Red Sea resorts with the resorts of the North Coast, passing through the Administrative Capital, at a cost of 20 billion dollars (360 billion pounds). The line serves about 2% of the people, and Sisi refused to spend 10 billion pounds only to develop The railway that serves 50 million Egyptians

- Gamal Sultan (@ GamalSultan1) January 14, 2021

Electrifying Siemens has turned out to be the cause of billionaires' great corruption.


Like the new capital, like the new Alamein, like the new Suez Canal.


Long live # Egypt three times 😑 pic.twitter.com/rzOujFxwQE

- Si Salama Abdel Hamid (@salamah) January 16, 2021

What is more important and more important if it were to pay the entire cost with debts and interest?


A bed and an oxygen cylinder in my hospital?


Or an electric train connecting the tourist resorts to each other? # The electrified train for all Egyptians pic.twitter.com/PDvrJz2a7J

- Haytham Abokhalil (@ haythamabokhal1) January 16, 2021

The German company Siemens is presenting a proposal to implement an electric express train with a length of 1,000 km, half of them (460 km) from Sokhna to El Alamein and from the new capital to the northern coast for a special price of 360 billion pounds.


This large amount will be a debt for future generations, and will not be of any economic benefit. The luxury train for the luxury class

- Dr. Amira aboelfetouh (@amiraaboelfetou) January 15, 2021

A giant national


project

🇪🇬 The

project: a high-speed electric train


Implementing party: German Siemens


Cost: 23 billion dollars


Duration of implementation: two years


Distance: 1000 kilometers


Speed: 250 kilometers per hour


First phase: 15 stations 460 kilometers


Transportation: passengers and goods


No crosses, no crossings pic.twitter.com/rgdCg5iWXC

- Egyptian princess 👑 💎 Moody (@ modymody2323) January 15, 2021

God willing.


Within only two years, an electric train line at a speed of 250 kilometers per hour will remain in Egypt, linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, passing through new smart cities such as the Administrative Capital and New Alamein .. in addition to the 6th of October City in Giza and Alexandria. The plan for the future extension of the train to Aswan

- Mohamed elbestawy (@M__bestawy) January 14, 2021

May God reward you with the achievements, Rais. Indeed, the American citizen Abu Qalb Abyad was missing a fast electric train from Sokhna to the worlds

- Khalto Najwa  (@nagween) January 13, 2021