Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria visited on Thursday the new Suez Canal sit where he was welcomed by Suez Canal Authority chairman Mohab Mamish.

The pontiff lauded the project, saying it is one of the most important national projects currently being implemented in Egypt.

The project, to open in August, will increase the Canal revenues from 5 to 13 billion dollars annually and will contribute to the development of the Canal region, he added.

The visit comes as part of the Egyptian Church's support of national projects aiming to push forward production cycle in Egypt.

Six new tunnels under the canal will be also constructed to transform a 76,000 km area on both banks of the canal into an international logistics.

The enlarged canal will allow ships to sail in both directions at the same time over much of the canal's length. This is expected to decrease waiting hours from 11 to 3 hours for most ships.[3] and to double the capacity of the Suez Canal from 49 to 97 ships a day.

The development plan of Canal area includes 42 projects.

Mamish welcomed the Pope visit saying the development process will start from Suez Canal.

He noted that 25,000 workers are operating in the project.

Pope Tawadros also visited Ismailia governorate where he met with a number of leaderships.