Widening the Suez Canal to make an additional 10km open to two-way traffic, and deepening 30km of the canal, are among improvements announced by the authority that oversees the key waterway.
The improvements were announced by Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chairman Osama Rabie.
In June the SCA said that while it would like to widen the entire canal, it was far too expensive and so a smaller project would be undertaken to improve the flow of traffic in the canal.
The move to widen the canal follows the blocking of the waterway last year, when a large cargo ship accidentally beached itself in the narrow part of the canal, blocking an enormous amount of the world’s trade for a week.
The project is expected to cost $191 million and be finished in June 2023.
[Image: Axelspace Corporation, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49857944]