CAIRO — The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities has launched a donation campaign to finally complete construction of the Grand Egyptian Museum, whose opening has been delayed nearly two decades.

Tarek Tawfik, general supervisor of the Grand Egyptian Museum, told Al-Monitor by phone that other major international museums rely on fundraising campaigns for construction and preservation costs. The campaign launched Dec. 28, and two bank accounts were opened with the Central Bank of Egypt, one in dollars and one in euros.

Tawfik said that after construction is complete, the donation campaign will continue, to raise funds to preserve the museum and its 117-acre campus located a few miles west of Cairo near the Pyramids of Giza.

In 1992, the Egyptian government announced it was beginning construction on the museum. The cost then was projected at $550 million; now it's estimated to exceed $1 billion. That figure includes the concrete and metal structures along with some other expenses, but only part of the interior finishes and the floors in the outer areas. Minister of Antiquities Khaled al-Anani told Al-Monitor in a 2016 interview that work on the museum was “delayed more than once, due to the January 25 Revolution in 2011 and subsequent chaos.”