The Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank) is lending Egypt USD 400 mn to finance the third phase of the electric light rail train (LRT), Asharq Business reports, citing people it says have knowledge of the matter. The loan would finance completion of the delayed project, adding 20.4 km and four additional stations to the line that extends from Nativity Cathedral to the Central Capital station, where it converges with the high-speed rail train in the administrative capital. The report carried no detail on the tenor or cost of the funding.

Supporting expansion: The fresh money will be used to put in place 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 one of the sources as saying.

The timeline: Paperwork on the facility could be completed before the end of this year, after which the disbursement proposal will be presented to the House for approval by 2024, the source added.

This is the second time China Eximbank has supported the project: The Chinese lender agreed back in 2019 to extend a U SD 1.2 bn loan for the initial phases of the LRT’s construction.

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