CAIRO: After a failed first attempt, Egypt is not giving up on privatizing a wastewater treatment plant as part of its public-private partnership program. The goal is to allow a private company to take over the plant in order to “make it more efficient.” According to the ministry of environment, the wastewater plant aims to “create more private sector jobs while still maintaining a public function. We are hopeful that it will be successful and help lift the burden off the government,” a ministry official told Bikya Masr. The announcement for prequalifiers for the 20-year contract for the design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the plant in Abu Rawash, south of Cairo, was reported in the state-run al-Ahram newspaper on Tuesday. Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid said in the report that Egypt was “aggressively seeking” private partners and is eyeing up to 50 billion Egyptian pounds in infrastructure projects in the next 18 months. The tender for the Abu Rawash plant, which has capacity of 1.2 million cubic meters per day, had previously been announced in December. The new deadline is November 21. BM
