Story highlights
- Egypt inaugurates major expansion to Suez Canal
- Egypt says it is a "gift" which "changes the map of the world"
- Suez Canal links Mediterranean with Red Sea
(CNN)Egypt inaugurated a major expansion to the Suez Canal on Thursday.
Taking a year to complete and costing over $8 billion, the project widens and deepens part of the canal to increase traffic and revenue. Seventy-two kilometers (45 miles) of new waterways have been added, according to the Suez Canal Authority.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led an opening ceremony which was attended by numerous heads of state, including French President Francois Hollande.
Egyptian officials have announced the expansion as a "gift" which "changes the map of the world." The ceremony invoked both national pride and a global outlook, including remarks by President el-Sisi, a musical performance, and jets flying overhead.
Boats, including a container ship, cross the new waterway of the Suez Canal on July 25, 2015, in the Egyptian port city of Ismailia, east of Cairo. Egypt started the first trial run of its "new Suez canal," officials said, ahead of the new shipping route's formal inauguration on August 6, 2015 -- a year after construction began.
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A fleet of ships enter the Suez Canal at its inauguration on November 17, 1869. Egypt was the first recorded country to dig a man-made canal across its land for international trade. Connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea via the Nile, the Suez Canal is the shortest route between the east and the west.
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A dredger is seen at work on the new waterway of the Suez Canal on June 13, 2015, in the port city of Ismailia, east of Cairo. Dubbed the Suez Canal Axis, the new 72-kilometer project is aimed at speeding up traffic along the existing waterway and boosting revenues for Egypt. 41,000 people have been working since construction began last August, moving a total of half a trillion cubic meters of earth -- equivalent to moving 200 Great Pyramids.
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Workers construct the Suez Canal, circa 1860, stretching some 190-kilometers long.
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A cargo ship navigates past the Suez Canal Authority Building in Port Said, 180 kilometers northeast of Cairo, on November 24, 2008.
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The French Empress Eugenie officially opens the Suez Canal at Port Said in Egypt, on board the imperial yacht 'Aigle,' on November 17, 1869.
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An aerial view taken on December 31, 2007 shows the southern entrance of the Suez Canal.
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A 1921 map of the Suez Canal, running south from Port Said on the Mediterranean, through Ismailia and the Great Bitter Lake, to the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea.
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An Egyptian army helicopter flies over a dredger at work on the new waterway of the Suez Canal on June 13, 2015, in the port city of Ismailia, east of Cairo. The government hopes the ambitious industrial project will generate $100 billion in revenue and create 1 million jobs.
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"The launch of navigation in the new waterway ... surpasses the achievement of economic or political goals, as it highlights a humane goal that achieves dignity, justice and stability to the Egyptian people in a modern and democratic country," said el-Sisi.
The project is not without controversy, however. Some have questioned whether it is the best use of the nation's resources at a time when there are arguably more pressing needs. Analysts have also cast doubt on its purported economic benefits, arguing that the government's projection of more than $13 billion in annual revenues by 2023 is overly optimistic.
The canal has been a significant income source for Egypt, bringing in over $5 billion last year. Its expansion is part of a larger plan to turn the Suez Canal zone into a global logistics and trade center.
One of the most important waterways in the world, the Suez Canal links the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. It opened in 1869 after a decade of construction by tens of thousands of workers.
