Egypt’s Antiquities Minister announced the start of the final phase of construction at the Grand Egyptian Museum, scheduled for inauguration in 2015.
The new museum is being built on the Cairo-Alexandria Road, overlooking the Giza Pyramids. Ali said that the project will cost LE5 billion, adding that the Japanese government had provided a large part of the funding as a soft loan to be repaid within ten years of inauguration.
The present phase of construction is scheduled to last three years and four months, ending in August 2015. The opening was previously scheduled for March of the same year.
The project, that was the initiation of the previous Minister of Antiquities, currently provides 5,000 job opportunities, with another 15,000 work opportunities expected once it is opened. The new museum will secure a substantial income for Egypt.