On a recent visit to Minya the US ambassador to Egypt responded to claims that USAID's 30-year presence in Egypt has done more harm than good, reports Gamal Essam El-Din US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone was clearly riled when, on a recent visit to Minya during which he met with governorate officials and members of the national and opposition press, one journalist suggested to him that USAID's economic assistance over the last 30 years had led the Egyptian economy to move from bad to worse. The journalist's judgment, responded Ricciardone, was far from fair. For three decades, Ricciardone continued, USAID's funding policies had been based "on the self-enlightened interests of both Egypt and the US" and US economic assistance to Egypt had improved the quality of life of millions of Egyptian citizens. "Many of the improvements," said Ricciardone, "are apparent to the eye, from Alexandria in the north to Al-Minya in the south, such as added classrooms, renovated hospitals and clinics, a massive expansion of infrastructure and utility services and loans to small and medium enterprises." In coming years, he added, USAID's role in Egypt will be to promote three objectives -- peace, democracy and prosperity. Peace in Egypt, Ricciardone emphasised, is essential given the country's influential role in promoting peace throughout the region. So too democracy: the US, he said, believes that in engineering its own democratic transformation Egypt can boost democratic reform not only in the Middle East but across the Islamic world. And in terms of prosperity, USAID is seeking to encourage the private sector to take the lead in ensuring Egypt's future sustainable development. Since 1975, Ricciardone said, Egypt has been the recipient of $26.6 billion of US assistance administered through USAID, and a further $1.034 billion has been budgeted for 2006. The benefits of USAID economic assistance are certainly noticeable in the upper Egyptian Governorate of Al-Minya. The city has almost eliminated the sewage-related flooding that was a feature of its streets throughout the 1980s and 1990s, thanks largely to the $80 million USAID has invested in water, wastewater and sanitation projects in Al-Minya since the mid-1980s. Last Friday Ricciardone and Minya's Governor Fouad Saadeddin inaugurated a new water treatment plant in Kedwan, a village north of Minya. The plant, said Saadeddin, is one of 13 in rural areas of the governorate all of which will be completed by July 2006. The water treatment plants, he revealed, have helped increase the average share of potable water per citizen from 52 litres- to 110 litres-per- second. According to Housing Ministry officials, Egypt, with the help of assistance provided by USAID and other donors, now provides potable water to 95 per cent of citizens. When it comes to wastewater treatment, though, the situation couldn't be more different. Officials say Egypt covers just 54 per cent of its people's needs. "This represents just four per cent in villages and 50 per cent in towns and cities," said one Housing Ministry official. Egypt, he added, needs investment of LE50 billion to extend the treatment of wastewater to the 46 per cent of the country that remains uncovered yet in the 2006/2007 budget only LE2 billion had been allocated to wastewater treatment projects. Ricciardone and USAID officials promised that they would do their best to ensure that more money goes to wastewater treatment projects. Anthony Vance, responsible for infrastructure projects at USAID, said that the organisation was aware of the importance of wastewater treatment projects to public health in Egypt. Since 1975 USAID has invested $5.6 billion in infrastructure projects, a level of funding expected to decrease in the next few years. During his visit to Minya Ricciardone and Saadeddin also opened a health clinic in the village of Sawada, intended to raise awareness of reproductive health, that USAID renovated and equipped, and a library in the primary school of Ibshadat village, a pilot project for the National Books Programme which aims to provide 38,000 schools in Egypt with a core library of 700 books.
