(VOVworld) – The digging of the second Suez Canal is on schedule and the project is expected to be finished by next July, said the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

Egyptian government handout showing aerial view of construction of the second Suez Canal.

The SCA head, Admiral Mohab Mamish, said on Monday that preparations for an inauguration ceremony next August were underway to meet the deadline which the Egyptian President, Fattah El Sisi, confirmed in the ground-breaking ceremony last August. 
The second Suez Canal is one of Egypt’s major projects and is intended to bolster Egypt’s ailing economy following years of political unrest. It’s also one of Egypt’s biggest foreign currency sources apart from tourism, oil and gas exports, and other remittances. Some 7.5 per cent of the world’s trade in sea routes are transported via the Suez Canal, earning Egypt more than 5 billion USD a year.