Egypt awards ambitious Suez project to army-linked Gulf firm

Egypt's Suez Canal Authority announced on Tuesday that a Bahrain-registered firm is to develop a huge industrial and logistics hub around the canal, but gave no details of the project itself.

The Egyptian army is a local partner in Dar Al-Handasah Egypt through the Armed Forces Engineering Authority, army and government sources have told Reuters.

A plan to develop the canal was announced under former President Mohamed Mursi last year but opponents accused him of attempting to sell public land to foreigners and the project was shelved for many months. The army ousted Mursi in July last year following mass protests.

The head of the Suez Canal Authority , Lieutenant General Mohab Memish, announced the winning consortium alongside Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab at a news conference in the city of Ismailia, a city on the banks of the canal.

"The winning consortium to create the master plan for the Suez Canal area development project is the consortium of Dar Al-Handasah Shair and Partners, which is registered in Bahrain, in alliance with Dar al-Handasah Egypt," Memish said.