Doha: Qatar National Bank’s Islamic banking branch in Khartoum called QNB Al Islami - Khartoum has announced that it will finance Nile Street’s expansion project in Sudan’s capital city at a cost of $30m.

Qasim Mahmoud Khalil, the General Manager of QNB Al Islami–Khartoum said “We signed a deal yesterday between the state of Khartoum and the QNB Al Islami, to finance $30m for the expansion of the Nile Street in the capital city of Khartoum.”

The Nile Street being expanded crosses over the Nile River and will have no intersection disturbing it, making it a high speed street.

The agreement was signed by Hasan Abdulla Fadel Al Mowaly, the Sudanese Minister of Infrastructure on behalf of Sudan. He noted that the expansion of the Nile Street aims at preserving the historical buildings alongside the street. “The $30m financing period will be over eight years, which is the longest in Sudanese banks” said Amir Balil, the head of corporate finance in QNB Al Islami –Khartoum

“This is the second government project being financed by our bank in Sudan for infrastructure, the first being a $7m loan to import asphalt making our financing loans for infrastructure in Sudan a total of $37m” added Bilal.

QNB Al Islami–Khartoum is involved in financing various projects in Sudan including $5m in agricultural projects and a $10m cement factory.

Sudan has been witnessing a construction boom over the past years, which has made cement be a vital commodity in the Sudanese market.