Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly announced, Wednesday, that a Egyptian-Spanish- French alliance will implement the tender of the bilateral treatment and operation of Abo Rawash sanitation plant. The project's implementation will take three years, whereas, the first stage of 800,000 sqm will be implemented in two years and the remainder will be implemented in the third year, said the Chief Executive of Drinking Water and Sanitation in Greater Cairo and Alexandria, Hassan Al-Far. Al-Far further clarified the tender envelopes unsealing took place Tuesday resulting in the Egyptian-Spanish-French alliance winning after offering the lowest price. Al-Far noted that the financial determination procedures are in process of completion, and that the alliance will finalise the required documents within a few months. The implementation will take place through a partnership with the private sector, and will serve the Giza governorate and all neighbouring cities recording a total population of 5.5 million, according to Madbouly. The current absorption capacity of the sanitation plant has reached 1.2m sqm per day with a primary treatment for waste water. However, the project aims to transform the plant to a secondary treatment plant, whilst increasing its capacity by 400,000 sqm daily, reaching a total amount of 1.6m sqm, the minister said. He added that the project aims to reduce pollution in the irrigation channels which lead to the Al-Rahawy channel, to protect the environment and reduce the risks of diseases. "The project's tender documents were prepared before the 25 January Revolution, then it was stopped but reinitiated several months ago. Numerous companies and alliances applied for the tender, while two were technically chosen and then, financially, the Egyptian-Spanish-French alliance won the project's implementation," Madbouly said. The project is the second in the sanitation sector to be offered for implementation through a private sector partnership. The first project was the New Cairo wastewater treatment plant, Orasqualia, according to Madbouly. The government is most interested in sanitation projects, and in late 2014, the World Bank offered its participation in a project involving the establishment of sanitation networks for 760 contaminated villages in northern Egypt. The project is valued at $1bn and will be implemented over a period of three years. Source: Daily News Egypt
