Egypt’s Bahr El-Baqar Wastewater Treatment project wins Abdlatif Y. Al-Hamad Development Award

The award is presented by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), for the best development project in the Arab world, becoming the second Egyptian project to win that award after the South Helwan Electricity Generating Station won that award in last year’s editions. 

 

It is presented to the best economic and social development project in the Arab countries, partially or completely funded by the institutions of the Coordination Group, with priority given to joint projects between Arab countries, with the aim of highlighting successful development projects that have led to solving existing problems, or have contributed to strengthening economic and social capabilities in the country; showing inspiration creativity, good management and efficiency in project completion, and maximized benefits expected from it.

 

The Bahr El-Baqar Wastewater Treatment Plant project is one of the largest stations of its kind in the world, implemented in eastern Port Said, and is financed by the Kuwait Fund at a value of $182 million, according to the Ministry of International Cooperation.

 

The ministry added that the project aims to meet the increasing demand for drinking water to meet urban expansion and the needs of the valleys and encourage investment in this region, which can accommodate 1.5 million people, in addition to about a million other tourists. The project treats 5.6 billion cubic meters of water per day from agricultural wastewater, allowing recycled water to cultivate more than 400,000 acres in Sinai, within the framework of the National Sinai Development Project.

 

In her comment, Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, expressed her happiness that an Egyptian project funded by Arab funds and institutions won the Abdlatif Y. Al-Hamad Development Award, for the second year in a row, which confirms the success of Egypt’s joint efforts with development partners from Arab institutions and funds, to enhance development efforts and achieve sustainable development goals in various sectors, pointing out that this is an extension of many regional and international awards received by projects funded by development partners in multiple sectors.

 

For his part, Waleed Albahar, Director General of the Kuwait Fund for Development, said that the Kuwait Fund for Development is keen to strengthen the collective efforts of Arab financial institutions to implement development projects that contribute to changing the lives of millions of citizens in the Arab world.

 

He pointed out that the water project is one of the projects that dulls under sustainable development in Egypt, as it was designed with advanced technologies to contribute to treating an amazing volume of wastewater to spare the environment from damage, provide arable water, transform barren soil into fertile land, and contribute to creating millions of job opportunities to increase family incomes and raise the standard of living.

 

The AFESD honored the officials of the Kuwaiti Fund that financed the water treatment system project, as well as the officials of the Ministries of Housing, Water Resources and Irrigation, and the entities implementing the project, Orascom, and the consulting companies.