It's a monumental project: Build a museum near the edge of the Pyramids to properly display the thousands of artifacts that have been hidden away in the Egyptian Museum and storehouses across the country.
The crown jewel of the new landmark? More than 4,000 artifacts from the burial chamber of the famed King Tutankhamun, including his ancient gilded bed that has never been displayed before.
In a country so in need, such a monumental new landmark could breathe new life into the struggling tourism sector and have spill-over effects in so many areas of the Egyptian economy.
The problem? The cost of the new Egyptian Grand Museum, originally estimated at $800 million, has ballooned to $1.1 billion, a steep price for a country that is struggling to contain its budget deficit.
On top of that, years of political unrest and the poor economy have delayed the museum's opening to 2022 – seven years later than planned.
But hopes are still high for the museum, which is already under construction on 117 acres of land in Giza.
Antiquities Minister Mamdouh Damaty spoke to AFP about the difficulties of finding funding. After the political turmoil started and the Egyptian revolution unraveled, the entire project was "in crisis."
While the Egyptian government recently provided 284 million Egyptian pounds ($36 million), Tarek Tawfik, project director of the Grand Egyptian Museum, said that funding is still an issue, something common for a project this big.
"We are building a new landmark," he said.
According to AFP, Damaty hopes that during the museum's "soft opening" in May 2018, when it will showcase Tutankhamun's treasure collection, funding for the project will increase.
Former Culture Minister Farouk Hosny said that he came up with the idea of building a bigger museum after a visit to Paris, where an expert made fun of the Cairo museum and described it as a "storehouse."
Egyptians authorities have been relentlessly criticized over the lack of maintenance and care for the Cairo museum, especially after a horrific attempt to repair the famous golden funerary mask of Tutankhamin.
"Tutankhamun's treasures are presented in only two galleries in one room at the Cairo museum, which is not adequate for such fantastic objects," Tawfik told AFP .
The Egyptian Grand Museum will display the legendary relics in a way that will remind people of the environment they were found in.