CAIRO, Aug 6 (Aswat Masriya) – Egypt’s president said on Saturday that there are some people aiming “to hit” the will of the Egyptians through “questioning” the state’s achievements.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made his statements in a televised speech on the occasion of the first anniversary of the inauguration of the New Suez Canal in Ismailia.

In August 2015, Sisi inaugurated what was dubbed the "New Suez Canal," a project involving deepening parts of the 193-kilometre waterway and building a parallel one along a 35-kilometre stretch of the canal, allowing the movement of ships in both directions.

The Suez Canal Authority says the deepening of the canal and drilling a parallel junction to it would double the Suez Canal revenues from $5.3 billion to $13.226 billion in 2023, an increase of 259 per cent.

Sisi referred to people who are raising doubts about the Suez Canal’s earnings and benefits of other national projects.

He said that “there are efforts to convert the will of Egyptians… to despair and frustration”.

During the speech, he referred to the assassination attempt of former Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, saying that “yesterday’s incident aimed to make today a hard day on all of us” but “God protected us”.

Gomaa was shot at by masked men as he was on his way to lead the Friday prayers in one of the mosques in 6th of October city. Gomaa survived the shooting but one of his guards was injured.

The attempt was claimed by Hasam movement in a statement that circulated social media. Aswat Masriya could not independently verify the authenticity of the statement.

The president warned against the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups which adopt the logic of “we will either rule you or kill you”, saying that such mindset will remain “until they despair”.

He urged the state’s institutions to communicate more with the citizens “so as not to give anyone a chance to confuse the facts”.