{"id":16763,"date":"2026-08-06T16:50:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T14:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=16763"},"modified":"2026-10-24T19:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T17:31:10","slug":"national-authority-for-tunnels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/national-authority-for-tunnels\/","title":{"rendered":"Loans Outpace Trains: How Egypt\u2019s Tunnels Authority Ran Up EGP 2 Trillion in Debt"},"content":{"rendered":"

The debts of the National Authority for Tunnels reached record levels that <\/span>exceeded<\/span><\/a> the EGP 2 trillion barrier in mid-2026, coinciding with the Egyptian House of Representatives’ approval, last June, of a new <\/span>loan<\/span><\/a> worth EUR 3,902,430,000, obtained by the Authority to finance the second and third lines of the high-speed electric train network, under an agreement with European banks guaranteed by the German export credit agency “Hermes”.<\/span><\/p>\n

This came three months after parliament’s <\/span>approval<\/span><\/a> of four financing agreements worth $332 million to complete the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project; the Authority had <\/span>obtained<\/span><\/a> in November 2024 loans and credit facilities from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Arab Bank worth EGP 4.5 billion to finance the monorail and Light Rail Transit (LRT) projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Authority accounted for about 60% of total loans and credit facilities for economic authorities in the general <\/span>budget<\/span><\/a> for the 2026\/2027 fiscal year, at EGP 257.727 billion out of a <\/span>total<\/span><\/a> of EGP 459.253 billion; meanwhile, the total loans obtained by the Ministry of Transport to implement a number of national projects for the railway and metro authorities alone reached, by March 2026, about $18 billion, according to televised <\/span>statements<\/span><\/a> by the Minister of Transport, Kamel El-Wazir.<\/span><\/p>\n

For years, the Authority, established by <\/span>Law<\/span><\/a> No. 113 of 1983, has suffered successive financial losses: they <\/span>amounted<\/span><\/a> to about EGP 1 billion and 300 million in the 2021-2022 fiscal year, according to Dr Tarek Gowaily, chairman of its board of directors, while losses in 2022-2023 amounted to about EGP 1.896 billion, against a rise in long-term liabilities and supplier dues to EGP 105.5 billion by the 2023-2024 fiscal year, an increase of EGP 31.2 billion over the previous year, according to media <\/span>reports<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The statistical <\/span>statement<\/span><\/a> of the draft general state budget revealed that the losses of the National Authority for Tunnels in the 2024-2025 fiscal year exceed EGP 44 billion, and the Authority <\/span>topped<\/span><\/a> the list of the biggest loss-makers among 59 economic authorities in the statistical <\/span>statement<\/span><\/a> of the economic authorities for the 2026\/2027 fiscal year, recording on its own about 66.3% of the total losses of those authorities, estimated at about EGP 96.9 billion.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the other hand, official data show that the Authority’s revenues <\/span>amounted<\/span><\/a> in the 2021-2022 fiscal year to about EGP 3.166 billion, while the cost of activity amounted to about EGP 651 million, divided between wages of EGP 193 million and fuel, materials and spare parts of about EGP 458.2 million, and the Authority <\/span>made<\/span><\/a> profits of about EGP 2.515 billion; in 2022-2023 it made a net profit of about EGP 3.536 billion, in 2023-2024 its profits approached EGP 3 billion, and its profits <\/span>amounted<\/span><\/a> in the 2024-2025 fiscal year to about EGP 4.350 billion.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Authority faces a large financing gap, as its expenditure <\/span>amounted<\/span><\/a> to about EGP 74 billion while its revenues did not exceed EGP 8.8 billion, meaning losses of EGP 63 billion in the coming budget; the <\/span>total<\/span><\/a> budget estimates of the National Authority for Tunnels for the 2026\/2027 fiscal year amounted to about EGP 430 billion and 823 million, compared with EGP 351 billion and 127 million in the previous fiscal year, 2025\/2026, recording an increase of EGP 79 billion, a growth rate of 22.7%.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The National Authority for Tunnels\u2019 share of economic authorities\u2019 losses, 2026\/2027<\/figcaption>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Economic authority<\/th>Target share of total losses<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
National Authority for Tunnels<\/td>66.3<\/bdi><\/td><\/tr>
Other economic authorities (58)<\/td>33.7<\/bdi><\/td><\/tr>
All economic authorities (59)<\/td>100.0<\/bdi><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>
\u00b7 Estimated losses: National Authority for Tunnels, EGP 64.24 billion; the other 58 economic authorities, EGP 32.66 billion; all 59 authorities, EGP 96.90 billion.<\/span>