Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Assiut Governor and Eng. Mahlab laid the foundation stone of New Assiut Barrage. The barrage aims at modifying the irrigation of 1.65 million feddan, about 20% of the cultivated land in middle Egypt including 5 governorates: Assiut, Menia, Bani Suief, Fayoum and Giza. a consortium comprising of OCI, VINCI, and Arab Contractors will execute the barrage works with total value EGP 2.4 billion. The project scope of works: the construction of 2 navigation locks of 150m x 17m according to the latest international technologies to accommodate the increase in the river and tourism transport units; the construction of a 4-lanes upper bridge over the new barrage (capacity 70tons) to link the East and West banks of the River Nile in Assiut.