Egypt eyes quadrupling desalination capacity in 5 years

Water-scarce Egypt aims to more than quadruple desalination capacity by granting private companies concessions from its sovereign wealth fund to build 17 plants over the next five years with sustainable solar energy.

The plan fits into Egypt's push to diversify its sources of fresh water for a fast-growing population as it faces competition for Nile river water from the giant hydropower dam that Ethiopia is building upstream.

The new concessions are designed to encourage private investment and technological development, both areas in which the Arab world's most populous country has struggled.

Investment in new desalination plants would be kick-started with the government guaranteeing to buy the water and re-sell it to domestic and industrial consumers at a steep discount that would entail a large subsidy, according to fund chief executive Ayman Soliman. He declined to estimate the size of the subsidy.