France said on Tuesday it was confident in the future of a commercial waterway linking the Seine river to Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, after it obtained increased European Union funds for the multi-billion euro project, reports The Malaysia Star.
The Seine-Nord canal is a 106-km (66-mile), high-capacity waterway, the biggest European canal project in 30 years and the first in France since World War Two. It is designed to relieve some of northern Europe's most congested motorways by shifting freight from trucks to barges.
But spiralling costs - from an estimated 4 billion euros ($5.4 billion) to more than 7 billion - prompted the Socialist government to suspend tenders for construction work last year and to launch a financial audit of the project's feasibility.
France, which had originally asked for EU aid of about 6 percent of what the state was paying, has since asked Brussels to contribute more funds - around 30 percent - to the project.
European transport ministers agreed last month that EU funds could reach up to 40 percent of construction costs.
Read more of this report from The Malaysia Star.