European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 18, 1980, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Three mile Tunnel taking shape under canal will link Egypt proper with Sinai Peninsula.  business five years after the removal of scuttled ships that blocked it during the last egyptian israeli v a. Busi Ness is booming on the sue  october work will be finished on widening and deepening the 100-mile waterway to accommodate giant Oil tankers. By the year 2000, officials Hope Here will be completely separate Ca nals for ships sailing North to the Mediterranean or South to the red sea. Since the canal was built in 1869. It has been closed to shipping five times including Brief periods during the two world wars and for six months during the 1956 Suez Campaign. But the 1967 Arab israeli War in which Egypt lost the Sinai desert president Anwar Sadat Center at Tunnel construction site 10 Miles North of Suez City. Dail Magazine to Israel closed in for a record eight  once up pm recovered the canal s cast Bank in the 1973 War. President Anwar Sadat ordered in reopened with All Speed. The shortest maritime link Between Middle Kush Oil Fields and the nil thirsty West the canal Mas reopened june 5. 1975. Since Hen. Nearly 100.000 vessels have used in to carry 10.156 billion tons of goods including 350 million tons of Petroleum bringing s2.39 billion to Egypt s Treasury. Canal Revenue in 1979 alone amounted to $580 million. Officials Hope to double that figure once the waterway is enlarged. Nine companies led by Japan s Pinta Ocean and Italy s Gianini Are carrying out a si.5 billion project to broaden the canal widening the navigation Channel from 360 feet to 590 feel. The four year project also will increase permissible ship draft from 38 to 53 feet. That will allow transit by ships of up to 150.000 tons fully loaded roughly Dou ble the tonnage permitted now. Another plan would increase make the canal deep enough for fully loaded vessels of 260,000 tons and unloaded vessels of 700.000 tons. A 16-mile Channel paralleling the canal in the North called the Purl said bypass has opened in March. It is the fifth bypass along inc canal now open to two Way traffic for about one third of its length. The goal is two parallel canals by the end of the Century. Dut the Suez canal no longer is a Formi Dable water Barrier separating Mainland Egypt from the Sinai desert. A Tunnel dredged in 16 months now Burrows under in 10 Miles North of sue City providing the first land connection Between the continents of Africa and Asia since the canal first opened 111 years ago. The three mile Tunnel one mile of ii 121 feel under water will be inaugurated oct. 6, the seventh anniversary of the 1973 War. Named after egyptian Gen. Ahmed Llardi who was killed in the War s first hours it was built by 2,000 workers including 85 British experts and fulfils a Sadat Promise that the Sinai will never again be isolated from Egypt. The Tunnel was conceived for civilian use and ils 24 a foot wide Highway can handle 2,000 cars an hour though Sadat once observed it could carry 1,000 tanks in an hour to positions in inc Sinai Descry. Below the Highway two giant pipes carry 44,000 cubic Yards daily of fresh drink ing water from the Nile River to the Sinai. Even without the full Benefit of canal improvements Revenue from the watch raw and Oil from Somji will bring in More than one third of l g it s foreign Exchange earnings this scar. The Oil is mainly from Sinai held resumed by Israel under a i 75 agreement and will account for si.7 billion los2 billion in 1980. This Revenue from the waterway and from Oil. Plus earnings from tourism Manilli Iriti s  Egv pins working abroad and  billion in american Aid. Menu that Arab eco nomic san Clinus against Kepi be cause if inc peace treat with Israel hate had Little effect. A is 4 billion deficit in the stale budget persists but the reeling  Economy nevertheless is priming at an annual Rale no Between s percent und 9 percent High b third world standards. Wednesday. June 18. 1980 the stars and strips Page 13