Egypt moves to expand water infrastructure through private investment

Egypt is preparing to tender five water treatment facilities, comprising one seawater desalination plant and four industrial wastewater treatment plants, to private investors within the next two months, according to Zawya.

The projects will be offered under the country's Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework, open to both domestic and international investors. Atter Hannoura, head of the PPP unit at Egypt's Ministry of Finance, told Al Arabiya that the desalination facility will be located in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, with its tender expected to launch following the Eid al-Adha holiday.

The Suez Canal plant is projected to have a capacity of 500,000 cubic meters of water per day and is estimated to cost upward of $400 million. Hannoura noted that negotiations are currently underway with several major companies, including Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power, for the implementation of large-scale desalination projects.

Egypt currently produces between 1.5 and 2 million cubic meters of desalinated water per day and has set a target of reaching 8 to 9 million cubic meters per day by 2050.

Regarding the four industrial wastewater treatment plants, the first two are expected to be tendered within 45 days, with one located in the Amreya Industrial Area in Alexandria Governorate and the other in the Abu Rawash area of Giza Governorate