Irrigation and Water Resources Minister Mohamed Nasr Eddin Allam declared on Tuesday that Nile Basin countries stood to lose some US$20 billion if they failed to reach agreement on the proposed Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). The initiative aims to establish a framework for Nile water-sharing between the ten states of the Nile Basin. Before departing for Uganda for an annual meeting of NBI donors, Allam--who is also head of the Nile Basin Ministers' Council--said the meeting would tackle a host of pressing Nile-related issues, including the recent performance and implementation of joint Nile Basin projects. On the sidelines of the two-day meeting--to convene in Entebbe--a series of smaller meetings are expected to be held between delegation heads and international funding organizations to discuss the divisions--and their repercussions on NBI projects--that emerged at a recent water-sharing conference in Sharm el-Sheikh. According to Allam, meeting participants will also discuss donations made by more than 20 nations and donor organizations, as well as the costs associated with technical studies for future projects. These projects include the West Delta irrigation project; an irrigation project in Ethiopia; an electrical linkage project between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan; and a planned electricity grid linking Uganda's equatorial lakes. The minister went on to note that Egypt, along with neighbor Sudan, had taken a decisive stand at the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting not to waive its historical quota of Nile water. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
