The Egyptian Ministry of Transport has chosen a joint venture of French consulting engineers Egis and Setec to work on the design of the second phase of Cairo Metro Line 6.

Line 6 will run for 34km from the north to the south of the Cairo metropolitan area, home to more than 22 million people.

It is intended to alleviate congestion on Line 1 and improve the system’s flexibility by interchanging with lines 1, 3 and 4.

The Egis-led team also conducted the studies for the first phase of the line, which is expected to cost around $6bn.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Egypt’s transport minister Kamel El Wazir said the project was intended to “transform Cairo’s urban mobility”.

He added that “we take immense pride [in] this partnership between Egypt and France.”

The French government has agreed to help finance preconstruction work on the line.

Egis has operations in 120 countries and employs around 18,000 staff. It operates in eight Middle Eastern countries, where it has completed more than 700 projects.