CAIRO – 3 March 2019: Asem al-Gazzar, minister of housing, said that 52 wastewater treatment plants are being established in Upper Egypt, with a capacity of 418 million cubic meters per year, with 34 of them to be implemented in the fiscal year 2018/2019.
The cost of the sewage plants is estimated at LE 8.1 billion ($462.8 million), the newly-appointed minister said, adding that the plants are set to serve about 8 million people.
During the fourth Egypt Investment Forum, Gazzar said that drinking water reached 97 percent of rural villages in 2018 instead of 95 percent in 2014. He added that the number of villages connected to sanitation increased to 34 percent instead of 12 percent, while the urban areas increased to 94 percent instead of 79 percent during 2014.
The minister said that Egypt is establishing a new generation of cities, which include 14 new cities, within the framework of Egypt's 2052 plan.
In January, board chairman and managing director of the Holding Company for Water and Wastewater in Sohag Mohamed Badri said the European Union (EU) will fund drinking water and drainage projects worth €71.5 million in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag to improve services.
Drinking water projects will be financed by €23.2 million while €48.3 million will be spent on drainage projects, Badri said in a statement.
Gazzar, the former housing minister's deputy, was sworn in on Wednesday, Feb. 13 before President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi as the new housing minister, succeeding Mostafa Madbouli, who has served in the post for five years in three consecutive cabinets.
The president has met with Madbouli and Gazzar, according to presidential spokesman BassamRadi, where Sisi directed Gazzar to exert utmost efforts to finish the ongoing projects, including developing unsafe areas, on time.
Sisi also urged the continuous development of infrastructure projects and the provision of periodical maintenance for these projects, including sanitation projects, Radi added.
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