The dry digging work at the new Suez Canal project, which involved around 20,000 workers and 80 companies, is due to be completed next week, said a report.

The move is aimed at increasing the Suez Canal’s capacity to 97 passing ships per day, up from the current rate of 49 per day, the state-owned news agency Mena reported.

The project, which kicked off last year, will soon see a new 72km-long canal being dug alongside the original. It would involve 35km of dry digging and 37km of “expansion and deep” digging, the report said.

Once the project gets ready, the canal revenues are bound to increase by 259 per cent, up from current annual revenues of $5 billion, it added.