Press release

VINCI and Bouygues Construction win a further contract for the construction of the Cairo metro

18-04-2016

  •  The Egyptian authorities demonstrate renewed confidence over a period of 35 years
  • A €1.1 billion contract
The joint venture led by VINCI Construction Grands Projets, alongside Bouygues Construction’s subsidiary Bouygues Travaux Publics and their Egyptian partners Orascom Construction and Arabco Contractors, has won the Phase 3 contract for Line 3 of the Cairo metro. The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and the President of the French Republic, François Hollande, attended the official signing ceremony on 17 April 2016. The client, the National Authority for Tunnels, demonstrated renewed confidence in the joint venture, which has been building the metro system for North Africa’s largest urban area since 1981.
 
The new €1.1 billion, 67-month contract covers civil engineering for Phase 3 of Line 3, including
17.7 km of new line and 15 stations (eight underground, five elevated and two at ground level). The works will require construction of a new tunnel under the Nile. Once completed, Line 3 will increase the overall length of the Cairo metro system to 100 km and serve five million passengers daily. Work will start in the residential and administrative parts of the capital, including Zamalek Island, and end in the city’s densely populated and highly urbanised northern and southern districts.
 
The project will generate about 5,000 jobs and continue the longstanding French-Egyptian cooperation in underground works. It will also offer French SMEs a large number of opportunities. In the previous phase of the project, handed over in 2014, the joint venture called on more than 600 French SMEs as suppliers and subcontractors.
 
Driven by strong economic and population growth, Cairo is now North Africa’s largest city. The urban area has 16 million inhabitants and a very high population density of 73,500 people per km2. Automobile traffic has become highly congested. The expansion of the Cairo metro will help to efficiently and effectively regulate traffic and substantially reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
 
In addition, the joint venture is also working on Phase 4a of Line 3, which will extend the system towards the eastern part of the city. The contract was signed in February 2015 and handover is set for the end of 2018.