Egypt has unveiled a Multi-billion Plan to build 17 Desalination Plants Powered by solar green renewable energy to tackle severe water scarcity. The parched country is seeking to partner with domestic and foreign investors to fund the US $2.5 billion initiative.
According to the CEO of Egypt’s Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), Ayman Soliman, Egypt is keen to build a sustainable technology base to control its destiny when it comes to water security.” The wealth fund targets taking a minority stake in all the plants alongside the winning bidders.
Egypt has embarked on a nationwide drive to address the acute water shortage in the country, rolling out a number of projects with at least 65 desalination plants capable of producing total daily 750,000 cubic meters under construction. The plants are distributed among six governorates that are Suez, Matrouh, North Sinai, South Sinai, Ismailiyah, and the Red Sea. Many of these plants are set to be commissioned this year.
In July, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi approved a loan agreement with the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development to establish two desalination plants in the new cities of Rafah and Bir al-Abed, North Sinai.
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Egypt faces major water challenges, given the limited water resources and its exponentially growing populations whose needs have ballooned to outstrip the less than 55 billion cubic meters produced annually.
According to Atlantic Council, Egypt’s water stress has been building up long before the much-talked-about Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the mega-dam threatening to leave Egypt thirsty.
The GERD factor is potentially a threat to Nile’s capacity, which has been significant in contributing to the 55 billion cubic meters —in addition to a small amount of rainwater and groundwater. The water requirements for Egypt’s population of 100-million people is estimated to be about 114 billion cubic meters annually.
Egypt’s population grew from twenty-seven million to over one hundred million, leading per capita water supply to quarter. By 2025, water supply is estimated to drop below five hundred cubic meters per capita, a very low level that hydrologists typically define as “absolute scarcity.”
The Egyptian government has been pursuing water-saving efforts, launching its second National Water Resources Plan in 2017. The plan envisions investing $50 billion by 2037, of which Egyptian authorities have so far committed about a third of the funding.
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