Dr. Rania Al Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, signed on March 25th the Gabal Al Asfar Phase III Financing Agreement with HE Eric Chevallier, Ambassador of France to Egypt, and Mrs Clémence Vidal de la Blache, AFD Country Director, according to the “See” website.
The Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities (MoHUUC) is implementing the project through the Construction Authority for Potable Water & Wastewater (CAPW) with the support of France, through AFD, the European Union (EU), and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
This collaboration will extend Egypt’s largest wastewater treatment plant to serve 17 5 million inhabitants of Cairo until 2040 with advanced wastewater collection and treatment services. This third phase of the extension will increase the treatment capacity by 1,000,000 m3/day and address current and future demographic pressure on Cairo’s sanitation services. These pressures have adverse environmental and sanitary impacts downstream. The plant will be one of the first in Egypt to implement advanced technology in tertiary treatment to enable further use of treated wastewater in irrigation. The project significantly contributes to Egypt’s climate change adaptation targets by developing non-conventional water sources (treated wastewater) for irrigation. Finally, the plant will produce renewable energy (biogas) through sludge treatment, with an ambitious goal of covering 80% of its electricity needs, reducing both the project’s carbon footprint and utility bills. It is an exemplar illustration of the benefits of a circular economy approach to sanitation services.
Through AFD, the EU, and AFDB, France are joining forces to support Egypt’s efforts in improving sanitation coverage and services to contribute to Egypt’s Vision 2030 and the National Strategy for Climate Change up to 2050. The financing agreement signed today, as a Team Europe partnership, includes a EUR 50 million sovereign loan by AFD, a EUR 10 million grant from the EU delegated to AFD, and a EUR 1.5 million grant from the French government. Additional financing is mobilized by the AFDB and the Government of Egypt, the latter contributing 60% of the total project costs.
