Damietta Port secures $455 mln finance for Tahya Masr 1 terminal
According to a statement by the Ministry of International Cooperation on Thursday, the DPA, Damietta Alliance, and HSBC further signed solution agreements for the terminal.
The financing package includes $125 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), $120 million from the IFC, $100 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), $60 million from the German development finance institution DEG, and $50 million from Proparco, according to a statement by EBRD.
Damietta Alliance Container Terminals will triple the capacity of the port, located near the Suez Canal, by expanding facilities to handle larger ships that can carry 18 metres of cargo.
The financing package also includes training the environmental safeguards and the workforce, including women, following the lenders' guidelines.
Egypt aims to increase annual freight volumes to 400 million tons by 2030. The terminal will cut costs and make Damietta a strategic transport hub in the eastern Mediterranean.
The new infrastructure advances Egypt's goals as a global trade centre while generating over 80,000 permanent jobs by 2038 through collaborations that include no asset sales.
The terminal should begin operating in 2025.
According to the Ministry of International Cooperation, Egypt received $38.8 billion of soft development loans and grants from international development partners between 2020 and 2023.