Firms vie to build Egypt's $550 mln museum

Yahoo News

Forty companies are vying to build the final phase of Egypt's new $550 million museum which will showcase the largest collection of pharaonic treasures in the world, the project's supervisor said on Monday.

These firms submitted pre-bid documents for the main construction phase of the Grand Egyptian Museum, which will span 117 acres overlooking the great pyramids of Giza and will exhibit 100,000 artifacts.

"The Ministry of Culture called for companies to submit prequalification documents for this Grand Museum project," Mohamed Ghoneim, the project's supervisor, said by telephone. "Fourty companies submitted documents yesterday."

The museum will include lavish gardens copying pharaonic designs, galleries and an archaeological research center.