The Egyptian government stated Tuesday that it has plans of building a new Suez Canal near the existing waterway.

The project's projected costs is about US$4 billion. If they can accomplish a new passage way alongside the 145-year-old canal, they could expand the trade between Europe and Asia.

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Mohab Mamish, Suez Canal Authority chairman, said that the new canal will be parallel to the current passageway. He also confirmed that the drilling and construction costs could reach an estimate of about US$4 billion. The construction could take about 5 years to complete, said Mamish, although President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hopes they could accomplish it in just a year.

The "New Suez" project is led by President Sisi. It is reported that the new channel will help the struggling economy of Egypt.

Sisi said the project will be supervised by the armed forces for security reasons. There will be more than 20 Eyptian firms that will be contracted, according to Sisi.

The historic Suez Canal earns more than US$5 billion annually. This is an important source of profit for the country especially when they had been experiencing a decline in tourism since 2011.

An officer in the Suez Canal Authority spoke to Reuters and confirmed that the new canal can add their yearly revenues and boost it to US$13.5 billion by 2023.

The new channel is just a fraction of a larger project they plan to implement. Egypt focuses on expanding their shipping facilities to raise their international profile and create a major trading section in the country.

Meanwhile, Egypt is facing a challenge with its rising number of Islamists militants. The militants are based near the Sinai Peninsula, which posed grave security concerns to the Suez Canal. The Egyptian government has an ongoing campaign to fight the militants in the area.

"Sinai to a large degree has a sensitive status. The army is responsible to Egypt for this," Sisi said.

Tagssuez canal, president sisi, Egypt, new canal