Suez Canal: Maximising resources
Two weeks ago, parliament passed a bill that gives the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) greater flexibility in managing its financial assets, enabling it to enter partnerships with the private sector.
The bill, which allows the SCA to establish a fund to optimise the use of its assets, triggered outrage among some intellectuals and politicians who interpreted it as paving the way for the sale of the canal. In a statement responding to such suspicions, Parliamentary Speaker Hanafi Gibali said that “while such concerns are legitimate… it is important to clarify the situation.”
The new legislation contains no provisions that violate Egypt’s sovereignty, ownership, and control of the canal, he said. It is a public asset that, under Article 43 of the constitution, cannot be sold or otherwise disposed of. That article “obliges the state to protect and preserve the canal as an international waterway owned by the state and develop the canal zone as an economic hub.”