CAIRO, Sept 3 (Aswat Masriya) – Egyptians will begin on Thursday purchasing investment certificates to fund the new Suez Canal development project, reported Reuters.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued on Monday a presidential decree to govern the financing of the 60 billion Egyptian pound project through investment certificates.

The decree pledges the National Egyptian Bank, Banque Misr, Banque du Caire and the Suez Canal Bank to issue investment certificates with multiple categories to use their outcome in financing the project.

Reuters confirmed from the Suez Canal Bank and Banque du Cairo directors that the investment certificates will be made available on Thursday.

Only Egyptian individuals and companies are allowed to purchase the Suez Canal project investment certificates.

On August 5, Sisi launched a mega project which entails digging a 72-km (45-mile) bifurcation to the Suez Canal as well as developing the Suez Canal region. Digging the bifurcation is expected to cost $4 billion.

The government had announced that five-year investment certificates with an interest rate of 12 percent would be used to finance the project. Certificates were chosen to finance the 60 billion Egyptian-pounds project as they do not grant certificate-holders ownership rights.

The project is implemented under the supervision of the armed forces. While launching the project, Sisi said digging the new bifurcation to the canal would be completed within a year, instead of a previous deadline of three years.