President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has ordered that the new 72 kilometer channel be completed in one year rather than the estimated three, Bloomberg reports.

Mohab Mamish, head of the Suez Development Authority, said during an address on TV today the project will reduce maximum ship waiting times from 11 hours to three. 

“As global trade grows and the Egyptian economy needs to develop its sources of hard currency, we had to think about the project of digging a new Suez Canal,” Mamish said, according to Bloomberg.

Egypt’s