CAIRO — The new Suez Canal is set to open Aug. 6, allowing for more vessels and faster transit — all while adding to the country's coffers. Not everyone, however, is on board with the project.

The Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is the oldest artificial waterway in the world and a source of foreign currency for Egypt. The new 45-mile section is one phase of the Suez Canal Corridor Area Project, which is designed to turn Egypt into an international trading and logistic hub and increase the capacity of the canal from 49 vessels a day in 2014 to 97 in 2023.

The plan also aims to almost triple Suez Canal revenues from $5.3 billion at present to about $13.2 billion in 2023. Such an achievement would increase hard currency, boosting Egypt’s gross national product. The project also will create new jobs for residents of the Canal Zone, the Sinai and neighboring governorates, and result in new urban sites being developed.

However, the project is not without critics. Hisham Khalil, a member of the Supreme Commission of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, believes a new canal is not needed. Speaking to Al-Monitor, he pointed out that, according to the project’s statistics, the average number of vessels going through the canal per day was 47 in 2014, compared with 45.5 vessels in 2013. Even at its peak in 2008 — just prior to the global financial crisis, which affected trade movement — only 59 vessels were registered. Khalil contends that, in light of weak global trade growth, there was no need to build a new canal to accommodate 97 vessels.