The third phase of the Egyptian Pollution Abatement Project (EPAP III) agreement has been signed today in the presence of the country's Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab. The agreement is at value of €70 million, and is entered into on Monday between the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), and the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) as the Apex bank on one side, and the European Investment Bank (EIB) on the other side. The signing ceremony took place in the headquarters of the Egyptian cabinet attended by the Egyptian Minister of Environment Khaled Fahmy, a number of officials in the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation and Philippe de Fontaine – Vice President of the European Investment Bank. According to Minister Khaled Fahmy, one of the main objectives of EPAP III is to provide the technical and financial assistance to the industrial facilities nationwide to comply with environmental regulations. The Egyptian Pollution Abatement Project, initiated in 1997, is the largest industrial pollution abatement in Middle East and Africa, and the third phase project, effective as of January 2015, builds upon the successful collaboration developed during Phase I and Phase II, the minister added. In the framework of the implementation of the Egyptian Pollution Abatement Programme, Technical Assistance (TA) activities are foreseen on three levels: A. Component A: TA to the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) for managing EPAP III (new PMU). The purpose of this TA is mainly to assist the PMU in achieving their main role and responsibilities in the overall management of the Programme. B. Component B: TA to EEAA to improve control, environmental monitoring and enforcement capacity. This TA will be dedicated to units and departments of EEAA that are directly influencing the regulations' enforcement, and will aim at putting in place functional and operational activities to improve the sustainability of the investment financed under EPAP III and enable EEAA to better fulfill its role and responsibilities with regard to enforcement. C. Component C: TA to the banks in order to improve their participation in the Programme to notably make them more proactive in the creation of a new pipeline of projects along with the EEAA-PMU, as well as strengthening their capacity and capability with respect to financing pollution abatement projects, and their management of environmental and social risks and impacts. The Technical Assistance team shall normally include, but not be limited to: Capacity Building, Environmental Management and Monitoring, Environmental Finance and Banking Experts.
