CAIRO — At a meeting held in Khartoum April 12, and chaired by Sudan's Minister of Transport Mirghani Mousa, Egypt’s Minister of Transport Kamel al-Wazir said that works to build a new port in Wadi Halfa in North Sudan will be launched as soon as possible. Wazir noted that his ministry is ready to meet all of the Sudanese demands with the very purpose of developing the transport sector between the two countries.

Sudan's state-run SUNA news agency reported April 7 that a delegation made up of engineers from Egypt’s River Transport Authority, in addition to the president of the board of the Nile Valley Authority for River Navigation and advisers in port construction, agreed to set up a joint committee for the construction of the new Wadi Halfa port, with a 70 million Egyptian pound ($4.46 million) contribution from the Egyptian government.

SUNA quoted the undersecretary of Sudan’s Ministry of Transport, Muawia Ali Khalid, as saying that the technical studies related to the construction works for the port were elaborated after the new port’s site in the northern city of Halfa was selected in accordance with Lake Nubia’s water level requirements. Meeting these standards would help facilitate maritime movement of the Nile Valley Authority for River Navigation, an Egyptian-Sudanese organization that works in the field of transportation of passengers as well as goods, Khalid added. Such a step would pave the way for more development works in the city of Wadi Halfa, he said.

According to SUNA, the delegation also visited Ahmad al-Sherif, the foreign minister delegate and head of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry office in Wadi Halfa. The delegation inspected the current port of Halfa, and discussed options to rehabilitate its rickety berths without halting its operation in the wait for the new port that would link all African countries via Sudan.