Egypt is planning to award the tender for a high-speed railway between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, announced Transport Minister Hisham Arafat on Monday. The project will connect the eastern resort of Ain al-Sokhna to El Alamein, a town west of Alexandria that was scene of a battle in World War Two. The tenders will be awarded by the second half of 2018. “We are working currently on the technical evaluation and the financial evaluation of this project,” Arafat told Reuters at a conference in Dubai, adding that the contract was expected to be awarded by July, with construction to start this year. More than 10 international companies are currently involved in the tender process, he said, without giving any names.