The Ministry of Housing signed an LE1.2bln loan with the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), according to a ministry statement Sunday. The fund will be directed to developing sewage networks in 32 in villages in Giza, from villages contaminated by the Al-Rahawi drainage canal as a first stage. Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly declared that the ministry succeeded in signing the loan in very short time over 10 days only, adding that the project designs and studies will be ready within six months. Madbouly added that the project implementation will start next year and will be completed in 2017. The project aims at raising the level of health for citizens, reducing the cost of treating diseases associated with water contamination, and improving the deteriorating environmental conditions of the villages targeted in the project. In addition to providing water for agricultural purposes, the project is also set to prevent contamination of groundwater, reduce the amount of dead fish, and provide new job opportunities during the project implementation, according to the minister. Sayed Ismail, the Ministerial Advisor for the facilities, declared that the loan period is 25 years, with a five-year grace period, and 41 instalments. AFESD's Advisor Mowaffak Al-Sakar said that a committee will be formed to resolve any problems or overlap between the Ministries of Housing, Irrigation, and Electricity, to implement the project without constraints. Hassan Al- Far, Head of the Executive Body for Drinking Water Projects and Sanitation, said that the villages benefiting from the first phase are Manshiyet Radwan, Zat Al- Kom, Birkah, Saudiya, Obou Alabas, , Bamha, Lisht, and Kafr Shehata, Almtanaa, Bhbat, Dahshur, Bernst, Kafr Hamid, Abu Rawash and Blida . AFESD is a Kuwait-based pan-Arab development financing institution. All member-states of the Arab League are members of the AFESD, to contribute in financing economic and social development projects in the Arab countries. Source: Daily News Egypt
