Egypt signed an agreement Sunday with the World Bank for a US$550 million loan to fund the country's rural sanitation project. The project has a projected cost of $2.8 billion, of which $1.1 billion will be provided by the World Bank. The World Bank's involvement was reported by stated-owned organisation MENA. Egypt's sanitation project aims to improve facilities in 155 villages, housing some 833,000 citizens, across three years. World Bank approved the first half of the loan in July. It comes as part of the sanitation and social housing programme the bank introduced in 2014. "The program supports the Egyptian government's efforts to increase access to rural sanitation by shifting to a decentralised model that empowers the [local] governorate water and sanitation companies and makes them accountable to citizens and stakeholders," said Gustavo Saltiel of the World Bank in July. The World Bank has said it is involved in funding 26 ongoing projects in Egypt, with a combined commitment of $5.92 billion. Source: Ahram Online
