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1. Transport
The people of Ancient Egypt were the first to know abou navigation and ship-building. Evidence of this can be seen in Queen Hatshbsut's naval campaign to the land of Pont, (currently Somalia) in B.C. 1491. Ancient Egyptians also constructed roads and transported goods by boats over the River Nile to the Mediterranean. A) Railways Egypt has 28 lines which are, by 2007, running over a total distance of 9528 km and by 796 passenger stations, and operates 1800 trains on round trips at a length of 135,000 km. These have led to the railway's participating in transporting passengers to reach about 60,000 million passenger/km and transporting cargo to reach about 4,500 million ton/km during the same year. Due to the advanced transportation technology, Egypt's railway network has witnessed noticeable updates where stations have been electronically equipped, passenger carriages upgraded and car bridges and tunnels were constructed along the railway network. The revenues of passenger transport by railway hit LE 526.5 million during July, 2007 to February, 2008) by an increase of 8.6% from its rate during the same period of the previous year.
Besides, the income of transporting goods by railway hit LE 111.4 million by an increase of 0.4% from its rate during the same period of the previous year. The following table clarifies the change rate in the railway passengers, the movement of goods' transportation and its incomes during the period July, 2006 to February, 2007 and the period July, 2007 to February, 2008:
B) Underground Metro
The underground metro is one of the major civilization projects on the map of Egypt's roads with investments amounting to LE 12 billion. Thus Egypt is the first African and Middle Eastern country to have an underground metro.
The metro links three governorates (Cairo – Giza - Qalyoubia) and transports around 3 million passengers/day, and its lines extend to a distance of 64.6 km through two main lines: The first line: Helwan - Al-Marg with a length of 43 km. The second line: Shubra Al-Khaima - Al-Munib with a length of 21.6 km. Moreover, the first phase for establishing the third line started on April 29, 2007. It extends at a length of 34 km across 29 stations, 27 of which are underground stations. This line is supposed to cross the two branches of the Nile below the 15th of May Bridge till Imbaba with a total cost of LE 22 billion.
C) Highways and Bridges
Egypt has built a network of highways covering the country and extending around 48.1 thousand km. Passengers transported in 2005/06 are estimated to have reached 135,270 million; goods and commodities 44940 million tons.
Egypt also boasts a network of bridges, which contributes to smoothing the flow of traffic. So far, 181 bridges stand throughout the country: 36 of which are straddling the Nile; 85 suspended. Egypt has recently witnessed a great interest in enhancing and upgrading the highway and main road networks to cover all the country. Their length increased to 48,000 km in 2007. Thus, number of passengers increased to 142,026 million passenger/km. Also cargo transport rose to about 46,288 million ton/km during the same year.
D) River transport
A network of river transport, extending 35 thousand km across the Nile, contributes to the transport of 2590 million tons/km of goods and commodities (2005/06).
The year 2007 witnessed developing 760 km of the Aswan-Cairo maritime road and 220 km of the Cairo-Alexandria maritime road.
E) MaritimeTransport Egypt has 40 seaports in all. 12 are commercial ports; 6 mining ports; 6 fishing ports; 5 marinas; and 10 oil-shipping ports. Overall seaport holding capacity has risen to 66.8 million tons (2005/06). Docks have also increased to 175, which has contributed in turn to the increasing of passengers transported by sea-faring ships to 740 thousand. Egypt's commercial fleet includes 135 units with an overall holding capacity of 2 million tons, which has contributed to a 10,916-thousand-ton rise in the movement of goods and commodities (2005/06). The year 2007 witnessed the completion of the electronic administration and supervision organization of Damietta electronic port in which 20 marine engines were built and exported.
F) Air Transport
Egypt has 30 airports. With the number of planes having reached 47, air flights could access 72 capitals internationally and 12 cities locally. Flight movement is estimated at 108 thousand planes in Cairo International Airport; 76 thousand in the other airports. Passengers transported by air have increased to 11.2 million in Cairo International Airport; 10.5 million in the other airports. Air-transported goods have reached 311.4 million tons/km (2005/06 figures).
The new passenger's terminal in Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport was inaugurated in May 2007 on an area of 45,000 m2, with a total capacity of 6.3 million passenger/year and a total cost of LE 495 million.
G) The Suez Canal
The Suez Canal links the world's East and West and contributes to reviving international trade. It is Egypt's major revenue-generator, pumping daily $5.5 million into the country's treasury. Besides being the world's longest natural navigation waterway, cutting by 40 per cent the sailing duration and cost of traveling from East Asia to Europe and vice-versa, the Canal averages about 8% of the world's shipping traffic. The Suez Canal's revenues during February, 2008 hit $ 407.7 million, by an increase of 42.9% from its level during the same month in 2007. This continuous increase in the Suez Canal's revenues returns to the increase in the total number of passing ships and oil tankers. The following table reveals the change rate in the total number of passing ships, oil tankers and its loads between February, 2007 and February, 2008:
The revenues of the Suez Canal rose by 14.9% in 2007.
Revenues from the Canal from July 2005 to May 2006 totaled $3.246 billion. In 2005, 18,193 vessels passed through the canal.
Suez Canal Modernization In terms of modernizing the waterway, the Suez Canal Authority has achieved the following: 1. State-of-the-art surveillance and monitoring equipment has been installed across the Canal. 2. Canal depth in 2006 is estimated to have reached 62 ft. Improvements are planned to increase this to 66 ft. by the end of the 2002/07 five year plant to allow supertankers with 240 thousand tons of cargo to cross. 3. 18.4 thousand vessels crossed the canal in 2005/06. 4. Canal width increased to 6750 sq. meters in 2006. 5. A 28-km by-pass between al-Qantara and al-Deversoir clearances is planned to create a 12- km double lane allowing supertankers to cross the canal in future. Second: Communications and Information
 A) Communications
Telephone services are spreading nation-wide. Telephone-line density has reached 14.9 per cent in 2006. Telephone lines multiplied from 6.4 million in 1999 to 12.9 million in 2006. Subscribers to main fixed lines have reached 10,628 million. Village centers have also doubled in number and are put at 1138. Cellular phone users are estimated at 14.8 million; internet users at 5.4 million (2006 figures). The number of internet free-of-charge minutes until August 2006 has reached 932.61. • Egypt achieved wide spread in the field of telephone service on the whole governorates level, as total capacity of exchanges during 2007 reached 14 million lines compared to 6.4 million lines during 1999.
• The participants in the firm telephones service increased to 11.2 million in December, 2007 and 11.3 million in January, 2008. • The participant in the cellular phones service increased to 30 million in December, 2007, and 30.7 million in January, 2008. • The internet users increased to 8.7 million in January, 2008 compared to 300.000 users in 1999. • The international capacity of internet connection hit 14866 million beat/S during 2008. • The minutes of free internet increased to 932.61 million minutes in 2007. • The companies working in the field of IT and communications increased from 2083 companies during January, 2007 to 2364 companies during the same month in 2008. The revenues of the communications sector rose by 14% in 2007.
B) E-government The purpose of e-government is to provide public services to citizens, corporations and investors whereever they are, as quickly and as efficiently as possible through the internet. In addition, it proposes to raise government sector efficiency, boost the role of the private sector and provide accurate information to support the process of decision-making and promote investments. The year 2007 witnessed the beginning of the experimental operation of the government buying gate on the internet.
c) Information:
The first ministry to hold the portfolio of technology, information and communication was instituted in 1999. Its mandate: to universalize the use of computers, achieve technological literacy and establish a Communications Super Highway, besides introducing export-oriented high-precision industries to generate revenue. The number of companies working in the communications and information technology in Egypt increased to 2310 companies till the end of 2007 compared to 266 companies in 1999. Besides, the investments in this domain hit LE 18561.7 million at the end of 2007. |
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