Lawmaker Sayed Hegazy, member of parliament’s energy committee, sent a briefing request to the ministers of irrigation and water resources and local development for not utilising rainwater and wasting it either by letting it fall into drains or the Mediterranean and Red Seas.
Hegzay said that rainwater could be utilised in times of need to cultivate various crops, especially since rain sometimes falls in areas with severe drought such as Upper Egypt and Sinai.
He wondered why this rainwater was not utilised when, at the same time, sanctions are imposed on farmers for their illegal cultivation of rice, and believes that officials must be held accountable for this waste of such an important resource before they impose sanctions of farmers.
The Egyptian government limited the areas allowed for cultivation of rice crops to 750,000 feddans, while identifying crop harvesting on illegal farmlands pursuant to water consumption rationing goals.
The chairperson of the Taba-Nuweiba Investors Association, Samy Soliman, said that the rainwater sometimes falls heavily, making the flood water head from Watir Valley to the Gulf of Aqaba.
Soliman demanded the government build a dam in that area to store water and use it for crop cultivation to benefit the citizens of Sinai instead of wasting it.
