(VOVworld) - Egypt will dig a new 72-km canal alongside the original Suez Canal. Head of the Suez Canal Authority Mohab Mamish made the announcement on Tuesday at the launch of the 4 billion USD Suez Canal Corridor project. Mamish said the project aims to create "a new Suez Canal parallel to the current channel" and will be completed in one year. It is expected to provide more than one million job opportunities. He also noted that, rather than entrusting the project to foreign companies, Egypt intends to allow its own companies to build the giant waterway. Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said up to 27 enterprises will be involved in the project and the Egyptian army will be responsible for supervising the construction. Opened in 1869, the current 163 km-long Suez Canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea generates annual revenues of nearly 5 billion USD.