Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni stated that the first phase in constructing the Grand Museum of Egypt at Cairo-Alexandria desert road has already started. One of the Egyptian companies is paving the new location on 117 feddans and at a cost of L.E 5 million.

    Farouk Hosni affirmed that everything concerning the construction is undergoing accurate according to set schedules. He said that there is no problem in the finance and there are alternatives as the finance we get from the Supreme Council of Antiquities besides the international aid from international agencies. For the first time we have an American commitment for hosting "Tutankhamen" exhibit in four American states and the aid will be directed to the Museum construction.

    The First Under-Secretary of the Culture Ministry Farouk Abd el-Salam stated that the first phase will take four months and it will include establishing a fence surrounding the location and eradicating of the old buildings which exist in the location.

    Yasser Mansour the Head of the technical committee said that they will hold weekly meetings with the consultative group which includes 14 offices and international and Egyptian companies for implementing the winning design by the Irish Shefreng.

    Yasser Mansour added that establishing the Antiquities Restoration Center before the museum building is essential for choosing 100, 000 monumental pieces which will take 3 years.

    Dr. Yasser stated that the mid of October will witness the ending of the initial design for the Museum hall.