Egypt offers LE3B financial guarantee to finance desalination projects in Red Sea governorate

CAIRO – 19 August 2020: Ministry of Finance will provide a " financial guarantee" of LE 3 billion to the Holding Company for Drinking Water and Wastewater, according to Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma’it.

According to Ma’it, submitting a guarantee to the Holding Company for Drinking comes in implementation of Law No. 168 of 2020 regarding permission for the Minister of Finance to guarantee the Holding Company for Drinking Water and Wastewater, which was recently ratified by President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi.

Ma’it said in a statement Wednesday that the financial guarantee will contribute to providing the necessary funding for the implementation of water desalination projects in "Hammam" areas in Matrouh, Safaga, Quseer and Marsa Alam in the Red Sea Governorate, in a manner consistent with the state's plan to maximize the utilization of available water resources using the latest technological mechanisms, and improving services provided to citizens.

He added that the government aims to attract many investment activities in these areas in addition to serving the projects already established in them, at the top among them; the tourism activities that are the first beneficiaries of these services.

The Minister stressed the ministry's keenness to provide the financing needs for projects that have been approved by the state development plan to ensure that it is implemented according to the specified timetable, in a way that citizens feel the fruits of economic reform.

Ma’it noted that the current fiscal year budget aims to complete the development process in various sectors to improve the citizens' standard of living and create more job opportunities, with a focus on the areas that are most in need; in order to help improve the quality of life, and meet the requirements of Egyptians for a decent life.

He explained that the current budget provides support and grants for development sectors worth LE 6.4 billion to support the social housing program "120 thousand housing units", support for Upper Egypt development, the benefit of soft loans, the rapid transport vehicle fund, and LE 3.5 billion to deliver natural gas to 1.3 million families.

He added that the current budget of 2020/2021 also aims to expand government investments. In a way that contributes to enhancing development efforts, stressing that the current fiscal year is witnessing an unprecedented increase in the appropriations allocated for government investments, which amounted to LE 280.7 billion, with an increase in the part funded by the public treasury by 26.4 percent over 2019/2020.