Latest news with #BRT
Daily News Egypt
8 hours ago
- Business
- Daily News Egypt
Egypt, Sweden discuss advancing local electric bus manufacturing, sustainable transport
Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Minister of Industry and Transport, Kamel Al-Wazir, met with Johan Forssell, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, to discuss expanding bilateral cooperation in the transport and industrial sectors. Swedish Ambassador to Cairo, Håkan Emsgård, also attended the meeting. Al-Wazir underscored the longstanding and robust relations between Egypt and Sweden, expressing a strong desire to deepen collaboration, particularly in enhancing road safety—an effort aligned with Egypt's extensive national infrastructure projects in roads and bridges. Minister Forssell, leading a delegation of Swedish institutions and companies, expressed Sweden's keen interest in investing in Egypt's industrial development. He affirmed Sweden's readiness to support Egypt through technology transfer, expertise sharing, and cooperation across various transport sectors, recognizing Egypt's strategic position as a gateway to Africa. A key focus of the meeting was Egypt's initiative to localize the manufacturing of electric buses as part of its broader environmental and industrial strategy. Al-Wazir noted that Swedish company Volvo already manufactures electric buses in Egypt for export to the UK and several European markets. The ministers also discussed collaboration on Egypt's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. Plans include the joint production of 100 electric buses, the development of electric charging infrastructure for upcoming BRT phases, and the implementation of advanced control and monitoring systems. Al-Wazir welcomed Swedish support in rolling out BRT services in Alexandria and emphasized opportunities for collaboration with other Swedish companies in the fields of renewable energy and pharmaceutical innovation, such as AstraZeneca. During the meeting, Al-Wazir and Forssell, along with Ambassador Emsgård, witnessed the signing of a Letter of Intent between Egypt's Land Transport Regulatory Authority and the International Swedish Industry Council. The agreement outlines cooperation in public transport planning, capacity building, technical evaluations, and knowledge transfer—particularly for BRT projects. Both sides concluded the meeting by agreeing to establish a series of expert-level follow-up sessions to monitor the implementation of joint projects and explore additional opportunities for Swedish companies in Egypt's growing market.
The Citizen
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Citizen
No draft budget allocation to replace asbestos pipes in east
No draft budget allocation to replace asbestos pipes in east As Pretoria East battles ageing infrastructure and constant pipe bursts, residents and councillors are furious over Tshwane's draft budget. According to them, it includes no funding to replace the decades-old asbestos pipes plaguing their areas. However, the budget is set to be tabled before the council this week, and frustrations are mounting over what they view as continued neglect of suburban areas. In Waterkloof, residents have had enough of burst water pipes that are no longer a rare inconvenience but a weekly occurrence. On Julius Jeppe Street alone, pipe burst after pipe burst has become daily life. Waterkloof resident Ian Fuller has been actively engaging with the metro through emails, raising concerns over the deteriorating infrastructure and lack of meaningful intervention. 'The same pipe bursts almost every week,' said Fuller. 'Every time the city comes, they dig up the pavement, patch the same old asbestos pipe, and leave.' Fuller said they don't replace anything, and they certainly don't restore the area properly. 'Our sidewalks are damaged, our properties are suffering, and nothing changes.' Despite repeated complaints, the city has not committed to replacing the asbestos pipe. Instead, temporary repairs continue to be the standard response. 'They keep patching a pipe that is long past its lifespan,' Fuller added. According to councillors in the area, the draft budget offers little hope. Ward 82 councillor Siobhan Muller expressed serious concerns, accusing the metro of ignoring Pretoria East altogether in its planning. 'There's nothing in the draft budget for water infrastructure upgrades in Waterkloof or most of the eastern suburbs,' Muller said. 'It's deeply concerning. The MMC has said publicly that funding is being diverted from the suburbs to the townships, yet the same suburban residents are expected to absorb higher property rates and tariffs.' Muller described the situation as not only unaffordable but unreasonable, too. She added that although the budget is not yet finalised, what is currently on the table shows no prioritisation of critical issues in the east. 'They're going to call it a 'funded budget' because they want to show stability, but in reality, it's a strategy to milk ratepayers while giving them nothing in return,' she said. 'There are no projects listed for regions 3 or 6.' Muller said the only initiative in this part of the city is the BRT project. 'It isn't even funded by the municipality. It comes from a national grant.' Ward 47 councillor Lida Erasmus shared similar frustrations. She said the draft budget does not include any mention of asbestos pipe replacement in the eastern suburbs, despite ongoing complaints and breakdowns. 'The asbestos pipes in this part of the city were laid down decades ago, and they were never meant to withstand the pressure the current system puts on them,' Erasmus said. 'They don't just leak; they split along the pipe. When that happens, the damage is extensive and costly.' Erasmus said that in wards 83 and 85, residents are regularly left without water due to recurring pipe failures. 'When I was standing in for Councillor Andrew Lesch in Ward 83, we had a single pipe that burst four times in seven days,' she said. 'The same thing is now happening in Die Wilgers on Teresa Street.' She added that when the metro teams arrive to fix the problem, they don't even have basic materials like clamps. Erasmus said residents end up buying materials out of pocket just to get their water back. She also shared a personal experience that underscored the lack of preparation and resources. 'I had to call my husband to bring a 10-pound hammer to break a concrete slab so the repair could be done. 'The metro is simply neither equipped nor willing to deal with this problem properly.' Despite these accounts, the draft budget highlights several infrastructure projects planned for the 2025/26 financial year, but excludes asbestos pipe replacement. Deputy Mayor Eugene Modise said the budget is designed to address long-standing service backlogs in historically underserved areas. 'This administration remains committed to providing safe, clean drinking water and dignified sanitation,' Modise said. 'We have already completed work in Bronkhorstspruit, and we are now moving forward with major projects across the city.' Among the projects Modise listed are the R150-million upgrade to Rooiwal Waste Water Treatment Plant, R45-million for Mamelodi bulk reticulation and sanitation, and R25-million for refurbishing the Bronkhorstspruit Water Purification Plant. He said other projects are planned for Ekangala, Themba, and Babelegi. While these projects may benefit certain communities, councillors in the east argue that the neglect of their suburbs has become systemic. They warn that continued inaction could further deteriorate public trust and infrastructure alike. ALSO READ: Major road resurfacing to be completed next month Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to bennittb@ or phone us on 083 625 4114. For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord's websites: Rekord East For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Jordan News
3 days ago
- Business
- Jordan News
15 New Electric Buses to Operate in Amman in the Second Half of 2025 - Jordan News
15 New Electric Buses to Operate in Amman in the Second Half of 2025 The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) has purchased 15 new electric buses that will begin operating in the second half of 2025 as part of the Amman Bus and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects. اضافة اعلان According to Carol Haddad, the head of transport network design at GAM, the current fleet includes approximately 300 buses—175 for the BRT system and 131 for Amman Bus. Haddad noted that during the first third of 2025, around 7,208,228 passengers used the BRT system, while 3,593,044 passengers used Amman Bus services, highlighting growing demand for public transportation in the capital. GAM previously announced that the number of fare-exempt cards issued for senior citizens and persons with disabilities reached 33,390 cards as of last Friday. These cards have been used for over 9 million trips since the launch of the system—2,246,913 trips on BRT buses and 6,885,475 trips on Amman Bus. Amman's Bus Rapid Transit is the city's first high-capacity rapid public transport system. It offers a flexible, safe, and highly reliable service using large-capacity buses that run on dedicated lanes with frequencies as short as every 3 minutes. The system also includes fully integrated and modern transit stations. Al-Mamlaka TV
See - Sada Elbalad
3 days ago
- Business
- See - Sada Elbalad
Egypt's Rapid Transit Bus to Operate in June, Says Minister
Taarek Refaat Kamel El-Wazir, Minister of Industry and Transport announced that in the field of sustainable, environmentally friendly mass transit, the state has implemented the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project on the Ring Road, one of the most important traffic arteries in Greater Cairo. The pilot operation, without passengers, was conducted in the first phase, with 14 stations from the Police Academy to the Alexandria Agricultural Road. He revealed that the project is planned to be operational for passengers starting June 1. seven Logistics Corridors. During his participation in the opening of the Egyptian-American Bussiness Forum, the Minister pointed that transportation networks, including the national road network, the high-speed electric train network, and railway lines, contribute to serving industrial regions and complexes across the country. "This is clearly demonstrated in the planning of seven integrated international logistics development corridors: the Sokhna-Alexandria Corridor, the Arish-Taba Corridor, the Cairo-Alexandria Corridor, the Tanta-Mansoura-Damietta Corridor, the Gergoub-Salloum Corridor, the Cairo-Aswan-Abu Simbel Corridor, and the Safaga-Qena-Abu Tartour Corridor," he said. He noted that this contributes to localizing industry by meeting railway, metro, and electric traction requirements, including moving units, sleepers, signaling systems, level crossing equipment, and spare parts, thus saving the state significant costs incurred in importing these items. read more CBE: Deposits in Local Currency Hit EGP 5.25 Trillion Morocco Plans to Spend $1 Billion to Mitigate Drought Effect Gov't Approves Final Version of State Ownership Policy Document Egypt's Economy Expected to Grow 5% by the end of 2022/23- Minister Qatar Agrees to Supply Germany with LNG for 15 Years Business Oil Prices Descend amid Anticipation of Additional US Strategic Petroleum Reserves Business Suez Canal Records $704 Million, Historically Highest Monthly Revenue Business Egypt's Stock Exchange Earns EGP 4.9 Billion on Tuesday Business Wheat delivery season commences on April 15 News Egypt confirms denial of airspace access to US B-52 bombers News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Arts & Culture Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's $4.7M LA Home Burglarized Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Sports Neymar Announced for Brazil's Preliminary List for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Arts & Culture New Archaeological Discovery from 26th Dynasty Uncovered in Karnak Temple Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War Arts & Culture Zahi Hawass: Claims of Columns Beneath the Pyramid of Khafre Are Lies
CTV News
22-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
‘Get it right now': Saskatoon city council delays decision on College Drive changes
Saskatoon city council will wait one more month to make a decision on potential changes to College Drive. Councillors unanimously voted in favour of deferring a decision on a series of concept design changes to the city's upcoming bus rapid transit (BRT) system at its regular meeting Wednesday. 'A quarter of the BRT funding is direct from Saskatoon taxpayers, but I bet that all the BRT fixes to make the system work properly later on will be 100 per cent on the back of taxpayers, so getting things right from the start is crucial,' Cary Tarasoff, a close follower and critic of city council, said during the meeting. Link, the upcoming BRT system launching in 2028 , is expected to revamp the transit network and have more buses moving quickly across major routes. One of the most crucial routes will be on College Drive. To accommodate Link, plenty of construction is being proposed by administration. That includes medians being replaced with one bus-dedicated lane travelling in each direction. Traffic would be reduced to two lanes in either direction from Preston Avenue to Clarence Avenue and a series of Link platform stations would be installed along College Drive. Earlier this month, the city's transportation committee approved a series of changes to the original plan, which included having buses moving in the same direction as traffic as opposed to contraflow as well as replacing the College Drive pedestrian overpass with a street-level crossing. On Wednesday, Tarasoff's speech to council prompted some additional discourse from councillors. 'Have we made sure we've dotted all the I's and cross all the T's on how to optimize things?' Ward 10 Coun. Zach Jeffries said. Jeffries specifically had issues with eastbound traffic on College Drive trying to turn northbound on Preston Avenue. Long lines in the turning lane have been known to back up traffic, and administration says it will be able to add a second turning lane with the existing land available. 'Every single centimeter you're thinking about is precious,' Jeffries said. Jeffries wonders if there's an opportunity for the city to acquire some land to help widen the roadway on College Drive and Preston Avenue and on College Drive and Clarence Avenue to help with traffic flows. 'Because once you embark on actually constructing something like this, you can't go back,' he said. 'I'd rather get it right now.' One issue pointed out by Tarasoff was capacity concerns with the city growing and Saskatchewan Polytechnic centralizing its 11 campuses on to University of Saskatchewan grounds in the coming years. During the committee meeting earlier in the month, administration couldn't say how many people could be on a transit platform at a time. Tarasoff said with events at Merlis Belsher Place, the Saskatoon Field House and Griffiths Stadium drawing capacity crowds of 2,700 people to 6,100, will Link be able to move crowds effectively? 'To simple questions, simple answers should be given. And we've got complicated issues that are we're not even talking about yet.' Tarasoff said. Terry Schmidt, the city's general manager of transportation and construction, later said the platforms have a capacity limit of 200 people. The original concept council approved in 2019 says platforms 'will comfortably accommodate 12 to 20 waiting passengers.' 'We believe there's sufficient capacity at these platforms to accommodate the trips that are being generated,' Schmidt said. 'And we can also accommodate that through increased frequency and the larger busses.' Administration says the proposed changes would slow traffic on College Drive by approximately three minutes. Council will vote on the matter when it's back at council's next meeting at the end of June.
