The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) responded on Friday to rumors circulating about selling the vital waterway to a foreign company to manage it through a 99-year concession contract.
The Head of the SCA Osama Rabie said that these rumors are completely and utterly false, and assured of Egypt’s sovereignty in all political and economic aspects through managing, operating and maintaining the navigational facility of the Suez Canal.
The rumors, spread online through anonymous accounts across social media, claimed that the Suez Canal Authority contracted a company to manage its services through a 99-year concession contract.
Rabie explained that the Suez Canal Authority is committed to its social responsibilities by announcing all its contracts in various forms, including contracts or memorandums of understanding, etc, while disclosing the terms of the contracts and their importance.
He pointed out that upholding the national interest, preserving the authority’s capabilities, and developing its assets are the basis of all contracts concluded by the authority, which cannot in any way downplay Egyptian sovereignty over the canal and all its facilities that are protected under the Egyptian constitution.
Rabie pointed out that Article 43 of the constitution stipulated the state’s commitment to protecting, developing and preserving the Suez Canal as an international waterway owned by it, and also committed to developing the canal sector as a distinguished economic center.
