President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met on Saturday with Suez Canal Authority Chief Mohab Mamish on the blueprint of a project to develop East Port Said area.

The meeting probed the legal and technical aspects of the plan, said Presidential Spokesman Alaa Youssef.

The recent successful test-run of the new Suez Canal was discussed at the meeting.

The president ordered the development plan to be immediately implemented after the inauguration of the new waterway on August 6.

The plan includes the establishment of an industrial zone on a total area of 40 million square meters. The zone is meant to create 400,000 jobs, according to the spokesman.

The meeting also took on all measures pertaining to the ceremony of opening the new Suez Canal.

The total length of the new waterway is 72 km, according to the website of the Suez Canal Authority.

It will increase the daily average of transiting vessels to 97 ships by the year 2023, up from 49 ships at present. It will also achieve direct unstopped transit for 45 ships in both directions.

The project will increase the Suez Canal revenues from $ 5.3 billion at present to $ 13.226 billion in 2023; an increase equal to 259% that shall positively contribute to Egypt’s national income of hard currencies.

The project goes side by side with the Suez Canal Area Development Project. Both projects will add to the importance of the Suez Canal and will make it the route of choice for ship owners the world over, putting any alternative routes out of competition.