Ministry of Irrigation finishes drilling 1,100 groundwater wells

CAIRO – 12 June 2017: The head of Groundwater Sector at the Ministry of Irrigation Sameh Sakr stated on Sunday that the Ministry is analyzing the data of the groundwater wells drilled as part of the 1.5 million feddans project.

The analysis output will be used to determine the adequate well pumping rates and the operating hours of the wells, and to put a plan for wells’ operation by rotation in order to ensure sustainability and to maintain reserves.

Sakr said that the Ministry finished drilling 1,100 out of 1,400 wells planned within the project at a cost of LE 1.5 billion ($82 million). The total cost for drilling all planned wells in Farafra, Toshka, Mohr, and Western Menya is LE 2 billion.

The 1.5 million feddans project is a plan for desert land reclamation stretching from delta till Upper Egypt. The project is executed in three phases. Each one of them consists of 500,000 feddans. The project is still in the first phase.