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50 artesian wells built in Abu Simbel in project to reclaim 1m acres: Minister of Irrigation Report shows 12,452 violations removed from shores of watercourses until May 2015, according to cabinet spokesperson
The Ministry of Irrigation completed 50 new artesian wells, with a cost of EGP 25m as part of the project to reclaim the 1m acres for cultivation, according to Hossam Moghazy, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation. This is in addition to preparing 52 artesian wells drilled in the last period in the Abu Simbel area, he added. Moghazy added, according to a cabinet press statement Monday, that "an experimental well working with solar energy was run, with a cost of EGP 1.375m. The remaining 49 wells were assigned to be run through solar energy; the wells come with storage basins, with costs amounting to about EGP 66m". The press release mentioned that Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb conducted an inspection tour for the wells' drilling operations as part of the project of cultivating 10,000 acres in the Abu Simbel area, part of the wider 1m acres project. According to cabinet spokesperson Hossam El-Kawish, Mehleb visited, Monday morning, the area of Toshka, with the Ministers of Local Development, Health, Housing, and Irrigation, to follow up on the current operations for the South Valley Development Project in Toshka. El-Kawish added that the Prime Minister cut his visit short and went to Cairo, with the Minister of Health, to check on the Prosecutor General after the attack he faced Monday morning. Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat died on Monday afternoon due to injuries sustained from the attack. El-Kawish further stated that the Prime Minister received, Monday morning, a report from the cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center on the infringements on the shores of the watercourses. El-Kawish said the report showed that the total number of violations removed in the period between December 2014 and May 2015 amounted to 12,452 cases. El-Kawish added that, among the removed violations, agricultural ones acquired the highest percentage, followed by construction violations and then violations concerning the placing of irrigation machines. The report pointed out that, according to the field supervision of the removal of 132 violations in five governorates (Assiut, Beheira, Giza, Damietta and Kafr El-Sheikh), 24% of the reported infringements were removed. Assiut had the highest percentage of violations removed.
