Egypt's leader hopes refloating of ship does same for his reputation

AMMAN, Jordan — Two months after leading the military in an ouster of the country’s first democratically elected leader, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi made a pilgrimage to the Suez Canal.

At a grandiose groundbreaking ceremony heavy on patriotism, the former general announced a mega-project that he said would kickstart nothing less than Egypt’s renaissance after the chaos of the Arab Spring: an $8-billion expansion of the 120-mile waterway, which remains one of the most potent symbols of Egyptian national identity.

“We have to move, and move strongly, to get out of the circle poverty we’re in,” Sisi said.

Seven years later, that renaissance is mostly unrealized. Although the country’s gross domestic product is improving, almost one-third of Egypt’s 100 million people live on less than $2 a day,