Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri has agreed to globally auction a contract to construct a second Port Said East container terminal using a build-operate-transfer (BOT) protocol, though he stipulated that 75 percent of the project’s funding should be Egyptian, according to the transportation minister.

BOT is a form of project financing in which a private entity designs, builds and operates a facility until the end of a stated period, at which time the project is transferred to the host government.

Transportation Minister Galal al-Saeed said the project is part of a development plan for Port Said East. The first phase of the plan will oversee the construction of the container terminal until 2015.

He added that the project would positively contribute to state revenue by increasing the volume of containers received and improving activities related to the port, in addition to creating multiple job opportunities.

The volume of container handling in Port Said East is expected to increase by 10 million containers by 2017 after the second terminal is constructed, Saeed said. He added that the project would cost LE3 billion and be put up for auction in June 2012.

Saeed pointed out that Port Said East now has the second-highest volume among the container terminals on the Mediterranean Sea. Constructing the second terminal within five years would make it the most-used port, he said.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm