The Egyptian government has spent a total of EGP 174bn on improving Egypt’s water and waste water sectors since 2014, according to Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities Assem El Gazzar.
In the period between 2014 and July 2020, it has completed 1,131 projects in improving drinking water and sanitation facilities in cities and rural areas. The projects undertaken by the government in these areas serve more than 45 million citizens, and have come at a cost of about EGP 124bn.
El Gazzar said that the government has further completed 5,792 replacement and renewal projects for water and sanitation plants, at cost of approximately EGP 9bn. It has additionally connected 176,424 homes to these utilities at cost of EGP 600m.
A total of 200 network extension and strengthening projects across Egypt have been undertaken, at a total cost of EGP 455m, El Gazzar added. This has come alongside a total of EGP 40bn spent on water and sewage projects in new cities.
“During the past six years, the rate of drinking water coverage across the country has been raised to about 98.7%, or 100% in urban areas and 97.4% in the countryside,” the minister said. “The amount of produced water has been increased from 24.7m cubic metre (m3) per day to 33.6m m3/day, equivalent to 12.2bn m3/year covered by a network stretching up to 180,000 km.”
El Gazzar also noted that the rate of sanitation coverage across Egypt was increased from about 50% to 65%, with the coverage of rural sanitation services reaching 37.5%, an increase of 26% over six years.
Furthermore, treatment plant capacities increased from 10.5m m3/day to 16.2m m3/day. Their actual capacity stood at 13.4m m3/day, equivalent to 4.9bn m3/year, and covered by networks of about 55,000 km.
El Gazzar pointed out that the capacity of desalination plants in coastal cities has increased over the past six years from 80,000 m3/day to a current 800,000 m3/day. The government has implemented 65 desalination plants in the governorates of North Sinai, South Sinai, Red Sea, Matrouh, Ismailia, and Suez.
Moreover, 19 new desalination plants, with a total capacity of 550,000 m3/day, are being implemented at a cost of EGP 11bn in the governorates of Matrouh, Red Sea, North Sinai, South Sinai, Port Said, Daqahleya, and Suez.
