European Union (EU) Ambassador James Moran signed a grant agreement with the Ministry of Housing in Egypt to provide €32m towards the "Kafr El-Sheikh Wastewater Expansion Programme" in Egypt. The signing came about on Thursday morning, between Moran, Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly, as well as the Minister of International Cooperation, Sahar Nasr. The total cost of the project is estimated at €164m. As for the rest of the amount it has already been funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), with the amounts provided equivalent to €55m and €77m respectively. With the programme being in place, 500,000 inhabitants in 79 villages in Kafr El-Sheikh will benefit from it, Moran and Madbouly indicated. Further Nasr highlighted that the project will not only raise the standards of health quality to domestic residents in Kafr El-Sheikh, but also it will aid in improving the quality of the Nile, Lake Burullus and largely the Mediterranean Sea. Moran was also quoted saying: "Approximately 30,000 jobs are to be created during the construction of these systems; all in all this is making a significant contribution to stability and to future economic prosperity and above all the welfare of the Egyptian people." Madbouly added that currently the sewage coverage in Egypt is equivalent to 15%, over 20 years. Now, however, the government targets raising the coverage by up to 50% within the coming three years. "This of course requires huge investments and immense effort from the state," he said. "We're working closely with various international financial institutions to develop the sewage system those including Arab funds and recently we made a deal with the World Bank." On 4 October, Nasr signed a loan agreement worth $550m with the WB to support the "sustainable sanitation services in rural areas programme".
