Egypt to begin rehabilitating Kitchener Drain shortly: Minister

The project will establish waste treatment and recycling plants, close unplanned landfills, and develop waste collection and transportation systems, all at an estimated cost of about €79 million, Amna explained.

Amna made his comments during a meeting with Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad, and Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Hani Sweilem.

For her part, Al-Mashat stated that "Egypt seeks to accelerate the project's implementation in a way that achieves economic, social, health, and environmental returns.”

The project is part of a €229 million deal signed between Egypt and the European Investment Bank (EIB) in 2018 to improve sanitation and infrastructure in the Nile Delta.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU) are investing €79 million and €8 million in the project, respectively.

The project is in accordance with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's directives to the government to improve water quality, which will contribute to improving the health and environmental conditions.

The 69-km-long Kitchner Drain is the largest agricultural canal in Egypt, spanning the governorates of Kafr El-Sheikh, Gharbiya and Daqahliya in the Nile Delta region. It serves more than 11 million people in 182 villages and is used to irrigate about 460,000 feddans of agricultural land.

However, it is highly polluted due to poorly treated domestic and industrial wastewater discharge, as well as agricultural runoff.