Egypt’s Al-Ahram area real estate development project will add 1,500 hotel rooms to serve visitors to the Grand Museum and the pyramids, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced.

He said the idea came about in 2015, and “today we are reaping the result of this idea in partnership with the private sector.”

He added that the project will receive the state’s full support, and that his office will handle all relevant requests, issues and obstacles.

Separately, the Egyptian Cabinet denied reports about the closure of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, coinciding with the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum.

The media center of the Council of Ministers said it contacted the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, which denied the reports.

The Egyptian Museum was accredited in the list of heritage sites of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the preliminary list of UNESCO.

Mia Richa