Sisi ratifies loan to build 4 desalination plants South Sinai

CAIRO - 19 September 2019: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi ratified on Thursday a loan agreement worth KD15 million with the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) to establish four desalination plants in South Sinai.

The president also ratified an additional loan worth KD25 million to fund a water drainage project in Bahr el Baqar, Egypt’s largest sewage water treatment plant, to face water shortage that could affect around 0.5 million people in Sinai. Both agreements were signed on December 8, 2012.

Saline Turning Clear

The annual water deficit in Egypt is 21 billion cubic meters. The gap is bridged through imports in the form of food, water recycling, and underground water. There is a need for further sustainable solutions to secure the water needs of agriculture, land reclamation, and citizens in border governorates.

Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr discussed in April with director-general of KFAED Abdulwahab al Bader the fund’s financing of the second phase of the Sinai Peninsula’s development program.

The financing is conducted in line with the current cooperation program between Cairo and the KFAED in 2019-2022 at a total cost of $1 billion, the ministry said in a statement Friday.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of joint annual meetings of Arab Financial Institutions, currently taking place in Kuwait.

The two sides discussed resuming a project to establish Bahr el Baqar sewage treatment system, the statement said, noting that the project is one of the world's largest of its type, with a total capacity of about five million cubic meters per day.

The meeting also touched on the Kuwaiti fund’s contribution to several projects in the sectors of roads, ports and water resources in Egypt.

Meanwhile, the KFAED director general said the fund has carried out around 50 projects in Egypt since its establishment, with investments worth some $3.65 billion.

He said the projects have been in the fields of agriculture, electricity, transport, industry, drinking water and sanitation.

Additional contribution by MENA