The amount is the first tranche of a $1.28 billion loan that carries an interest rate of 0.2 percent, Planning and International Cooperation Minister Faiza Abul Naga said.

The new line, costing an estimated 15 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.49 billion), is to run from the northwestern suburb of Sixth of October City via the site of a new Egyptian museum near the Pyramids of Giza to a district south of downtown.

Construction is set to begin in September and expected to take seven years to finish. Egypt last month inaugurated the first phase of the third line, running from the city center to the airport in the northeast. ($1 = 6.0332 Egyptian pounds).

                                                                                 Source: Agencies