El Sisi inaugurates the country’s newest railway station: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi yesterday inaugurated the country’s newest and largest railway station — Giza’s Bashteel station — saying that it, along with other national projects being set up, is reviving the transport sector after it has been neglected for decades (watch, runtime: 1:26:24). The station was designed and constructed by regional engineering and construction giant Hassan Allam Holding.

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It didn’t come cheap: The government has spent some EGP 2 tn on the transport sector over the past ten years, El Sisi said.

Open invitation for investment: El Sisi highlighted the country’s import bill between 2014 and 2023, which included USD 9 bn in mobile phone imports and USD 23 bn in pharma imports. “This import bill represents an opportunity for you,” El Sisi said, encouraging investors to invest in localizing the manufacturing of imported goods. The president called on “investors and industrialists to review the products being imported and shift toward localization in order to create jobs and ramp up tax revenues.”

All aboard Bashteel’s first train: The station will receive its first train at 7:35 am today, Egyptian National Railways (ENR) head Mohamed Amer told Ala Mas'ouleety's Ahmed Moussa (watch, runtime: 6:35). He explained that work on the station began two years ago and was carried out by ENR-owned companies.

Improving Cairo’s traffic flow: The Bashteel station is set to improve railway performance and help with Cairo’s traffic flow, engineering professor Osama Okail told Salaat El Tahrir’s Faten Abdel Maaboud (watch, runtime: 5:29). “Prior to the Bashteel station, all trains used to arrive at Ramses Station … Countries don’t have central stations in major capitals, instead there are terminal stations to reduce the volume of traffic in the city,” he explained.

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