WATER PAGES
Egypt and UK sign MOU on water partnership
AMemorandumof Understanding (MoU) has been agreed between Egypt and the UK’s leading water sector trade association to establish a framework for bilateral cooperation on water projects for 27 governorates and the new cities across Egypt.
The collaborative agreement was signed by BritishWater chair Dr Mark Fletcher and Dr Sayed Ismail, deputyminister for infrastructure, the EgyptianMinistry of Housing, Utilities & Urban Communities at an international reception in London.
TheMoU willmake it easier for the UK water industry to participate in the opportunities in Egypt, and for Egyptian companies to access UK knowledge and experience.
“Egypt’s water and sanitation sector is undergoing a huge transformation and we need the expertise of British companies,” said Dr Sayed Ismail. “We have 40 new cities under development including a new capital city – this is a huge area of development, requiring extensive water and sanitation infrastructure, technologies and services.”
Ismail said expertise fromthe UK water sector and supply chain was urgently needed to help Egypt’s ambitiousmodernisation plans on desalination, water reuse, sludge-to-energy retrieval, and investment in human capital.
Among the 40 new cities is the new administrative capital of Egypt - which has a planned population of 10million inhabitants and will feature green spaces, and separate residential and industrial sectors. Another new city - New Alamein - is one of themost ambitious of Egypt’s smart cities, covering 50,000 acres and with a proposed population of threemillion. Styled as Egypt’s “Gate to Africa”, it will bemade up of separate tourist, residential, industrial and historic sectors.
“We are particularly interested in working with British companies on two key technologies - desalination and sludge-to-energy.We want to close the loop by generating energy and increasing water reuse whileminimising costs,” said Ismail.
Investment in desalination is critical to Egypt’s plans for amore sustainable water future, he explained. There are plans for around 20 new desalination plants across the country, which the Egyptian government plans to build in collaboration with the private sector.
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Dr Ismail and Dr Fletcher signMoU
“The River Nile is themain source of water – and themain source of life - for all Egyptians. At themoment 90%of our water is taken from there, but we need to diversify our other resources, especially in coastal areas, the north of Egypt and the eastern borders near the Red Sea. This is where we see desalination playing a significant role.”
While undertaking such rapid expansion, the Egyptian government want to build the capacity of the employees in the water and sanitation sector, specifically in areas like facilitymanagement and service delivery.
“There will be a lot of opportunities for the Egyptian people working in sanitation and water, and also for the UK companies who can support this,”added Ismail.
BritishWater’s chairMark Fletcher said, “Aftermanymonths of planning and collaboration, I amthrilled this importantMoU has been signed. This partnership will openmanymore doors for our members, who have a depth of experience and expertise.
“BritishWater looks forward to working closely together to help deliver critical transformation of water and wastewater services in Egypt.”
This news comes as BritishWater is due to host its annual House of Lords Spring Reception in London on Thursday 27 April. The event provides an opportunity formembers and guests of BritishWater to network, harness strategic collaborative opportunities and promote their business to key industry figures.
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