The Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim) is reportedly lending Egypt USD 400 mn to finance its third and final phase of the all-electric light railway train (LRT), Asharq Business reports, citing people it says have knowledge of the matter. The loan would finance the delayed project’s completion, adding 20.4 km and four additional stations to the line. Details on the loan’s tenor are yet to be disclosed.

Supporting expansion: The fresh money will be used to develop various mechanical and electrical systems, including the project’s central control, ticket gates, and other signaling and communications equipment, all of which will be implemented by chinese company AVIC, the project’s main contractor, Asharq quotes a source as saying.

The timeline: Administrative procedures for the loan are underway and are set to be completed before the end of this year, after which the disbursement proposal will be presented to Egypt’s House of Representatives for approval by 2024, the source added.

This is the second Exim bank loan Egypt obtained for the project: The Chinese lender agreed back in 2019 to extend a USD 1.2 bn loan for the LRT’s initial phases of construction. The Chinese funds were used to purchase 22 trains, each consisting of six cars, in addition to installing all the operating systems of the project, which inaugurated its first and second phases in July of last year.