Egypt's President approves two loans from African Development Bank for water treatment project

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi issued a decree approving a loan agreement worth $100 million between Egypt and the African Development Bank (AfDB), earmarked to finance a wastewater treatment plant at Abu Rawash, Giza. The president also issued a decree endorsing a second agreement on a $50 million loan related to the Abu Rawash plant project, offered by AfDB on behalf of the Africa Growing Together Fund. Both agreements were signed 6 February 2018. The project's scope involves engineering, procurement, and construction works for the wastewater treatment plant located eight kilometres north of Giza. The project includes upgrading and extending the capacity of the existing plant from primary treatment of 1.2 million cubic metres per day (m3/day) to secondary treatment of 1.6 million m3/day.  

The plant currently receives around 80 percent of Giza's wastewater (Giza's current population is estimated at 5.3 million), treats this raw wastewater and then disposes it into the Barakat drain, eventually finding its way to the Rashid branch of the River Nile.