Minister of Transport Hesham Arafat said on Sunday that as part of an agreement with the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI), the ministry will construct 300 new trains, and ticket prices will increase at the end of the 2018 fiscal year.
He added that the country’s railway services will be upgraded by June 2019, after the ministry updates the electronic signal and the railway system, with costs estimated to reach LE 16 billion and LE 54 billion, respectively.
The comments came at a meeting between the ministers of transport, antiquities, and health, held by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, who returned to work on Saturday following a two-month medical leave. In the meeting, the ministers discussed current projects being implemented by their respective ministries.
Arafat discussed further with Ismail the supply contracts of 181 new train locomotives and 1,300 new vehicles, with a cost of LE 16 billion.
Meanwhile, Minister of Antiquities Khaled al-Anany said that his ministry will raise ticket costs at museums and archaeological sites by April 2018. Foreigners, he added, will see a 25 percent ticket price increase starting November 2018.
Finally, Minister of Health Ahmed Emad focused on the Health Insurance Law and the comprehensive survey of the Hepatitis C virus HCV.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
