The environment now tops the national agenda for sustained development. Minister of State for Environmental Affairs Maged George tells Mahmoud Bakr about the ministry's most recent plans What are the main pollutants afflicting the Nile and what is the ministry doing about them? Nile pollution became a problem after the building of the High Dam, specifically after 1970. Before that date, river pollutants were yearly washed away with the flood. So we had little or no pollution. After the High Dam, the flood water accumulating in Lake Nasser, all kinds of pollution began to surface and pose threats. One significant pollutant is agricultural drainage, which is recycled for irrigation, with over 2.5 billion cubic metres flushed back into the river. Another is the sewerage of cities, towns and villages along 1,300km of the river bank; some two billion cubic metres are dumped into it in untreated or partially treated form. Then you have industrial waste from factories situated along the river, some 20 per cent of which is partially treated, as is the case of the Helwan plants; the rest is not treated at all. Liquid industrial waste totals three billion cubic metres. There is also the solid waste and rubbish produced by households and livestock -- not to mention 357 houseboats, 32 river docks and countless transport lines that provide for freight vessels; these alone use up one million tonnes of fuel per year. There are also fisheries producing their own waste. Protection efforts involve a 12-programme plan, and the ministry monitoring the quality of Nile water -- a task the Environmental Affairs Authority has been undertaking annually since 1999. We coordinate with the relevant ministries, exchanging data for quick detection of changes in the quality of the water, and we take appropriate measures to protect it. Starting this year, we are also monitoring the most polluted points in canals and irrigation tunnels; and the tests show that the quality of Nile water -- with the exception of a few points close to drainage sources, especially during the low water season, largely within the parameters specified by law -- has improved in the last few years. The ministry is offering grants and reduced interest loans as well as technical support to help implement environmental measures; and industrial treatment stations costing a total of LE332 million are currently operating in 34 factories, preventing some 100 million cubic metres of untreated water from entering the water course. We are also coordinating with the tourist authorities to modernise the sewerage treatment facilities in river vessels and periodically check them. The ministry is sponsoring research into river pollutants -- a study on the growing concentration of ammonia in the Rashid branch of the waterway, for example. As per the results of a study on the effects of fisheries on water quality, 53 fish breeding nets in violation of regulations in Beheira, Kafr Al-Sheikh and Damietta have been removed. A report has been submitted to the People's Assembly and a decision to remove all nets from the river may soon be taken. What about the coastal environment, maritime pollution and accidents? The ministry is involved in continual efforts on the international and regional scale to protect the maritime environment. An agreement has been signed with the regional authority for protection of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to develop a Hurghada-based centre for collective assistance in the case of maritime emergencies. To open this month and employ well-trained experts, the centre will monitor sea traffic and counter the effects of spillage and shipping accidents, coordinating environmental work. The ministry has also put together a national emergency plan to fight maritime pollution and, in collaboration with the oil and maritime transport sectors, established units covering some 3,000km of the coasts. We are in the process of providing ports with the necessary equipment to join in the fight. Monthly drills are conducted with participation from all the relevant authorities: the ministry, the Ministry of Petroleum, the Maritime Transport Sector, the armed forces, patrol boats and frontier guard. A special control room dealing with oil handled 77 cases in 2004, including those of the Good Hope tanker west of Alexandria and the Samdud tanker in the Suez Canal. Noise pollution is another thing, on the other hand. You don't seem to be doing much in this department? But we are. The Environmental Affairs Authority is putting together a map of noise pollution and a database of noise levels to help us plan the locations of future projects like highways or bridges, hospitals, schools, residential areas; a monitoring network is in the process of being created for Greater Cairo and, once complete, will be extended to the rest of the country. All will be underway this year. Together with the Ministry of Interior, we are managing check points to inspect sources of mobile and stationary noise; we've signed a protocol with EgyptAir, and we're doing a study on noise levels in the underground metro to control noise in future lines. What is the latest on the protectorates? We pay as much attention as ever, in the conviction that they are part of Egypt's tourism resources. At present there are 24 protectorates covering 10 per cent of the country; these include five maritime protectorates, eight wetland protectorates, seven desert protectorates and four geological protectorates. Two more are to be established in the northern islands of the Red Sea and Marsa Matrouh; by 2017, Egypt will have a total of 40 protectorates covering 17 per cent of the country's total surface area. And they are to be equipped in such a way as to draw in as much eco-tourism as possible. Indeed we have signed a protocol with the Ministry of Tourism to develop the coastal area of Nabq in South Sinai -- a development plan that will involve environmentally friendly projects by the General Authority of Tourism Development. What's the EEAA's plan for 2006? We will be targeting air pollution through a number of programmes initiated by the ministry that aim to ensure the appropriate disposal of wastes and rice straw. We are also planning to build new recycling plants, two of which will be located in Daqahliya Governorate. Meanwhile we are working on enhancing the role of the social fund to urge young unemployed people to utilise their own facilities to recycle rice chaff. We are also launching the next phase of the Industrial Compliance Project in cooperation with the World Bank at a cost of $84 million. We will be focussing our efforts on the factories that still pollute Lake Maryut and northern Cairo. We are aiming to transfer small and medium-sized factories out of residential areas and help fertiliser producers to comply with environmental standards at a cost of LE3 billion. In accordance with the Kyoto Protocol, we are seeking to promote environmentally friendly development.
