French contractors have continued their 35-year involvement with Cairo's metro development by recently signing a $1.2-billion civil engineering contract that covers the 17.7-kilometer third phase of the Egyptian capital's Line 3. The contract includes a tunnel under the Nile River and eight underground stations, five elevated and two at grade. When complete, the project will increase Cairo’s network to 100 km.
In a consortium with locally based Orascom Construction and Arabco Contractors, Paris-based VINCI Construction Grands Projets and Bouygues Travaux Publics secured the 67-month contract from the National Authority for Tunnels. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and his French counterpart, François Hollande, signed the deal on April 17.