Egypt's investment and int'l cooperation minister Sahar Nasr (R) speaks with Kuwaiti AFESD's Director General and Chairman Abdullatif Youssef Al Hamad (L) in a meeting in Washington (Photo Courtesy of MOIC)
The Kuwaiti Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) said on Friday that it will support the second phase of the development of the wastewater treatment project in Bahr El-Bakar city, one of the main development projects in Sinai, with funds of $248 million, according to an Egyptian investment and international cooperation ministry statement on Friday.
The project will treat five million cubic meters of wastewater per day, the statement explained.
AFESD financed the first phase of the project with funding of $230 million.
An AFESD delegation will arrive in Cairo next week to finalise the project’s arrangements, according to the statement.
Egyptian officials and AFESD discussed increasing cooperation in terms of Egypt’s development, especially the Sinai development programme, on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington.
The plant, according to the statement, will allow integrated industrial and agricultural development in the region, as the treated wastewater will be used in reclaiming about 70,000 acres to the east of the Suez Canal, while about 330 acres will be cultivated in Sahl Tina and eat Qantara.
Investment and International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr said that the project will have positive sustainable environmental impacts, as it will raise the treated wastewater to 1.8 billion cubic metres annually, which could be used in increasing the cultivated area and improve the environmental condition of Almanzala Lake.
AFESD's director general and chairman Abdullatif Youssef Al-Hamad said that "AFESD supports Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s efforts and unprecedented achievements in developing the Sinai Peninsula."
“AFESD has funded about 63 projects in Egypt in electricity, agriculture, education, water and sanitation, transport, industry, mining, and social services with a total of $5 billion,” Al-Hamad said in the statement.
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