Al-Mashat, USAID Open Expansions of Wastewater Treatment Plant in Luxor

Minister of International Cooperation Dr. Rania Al-Mashat inaugurated on Saturday the new expansions of the wastewater treatment plant in Al-Hubail region in Luxor, which increases the treatment’s capacity by about 36,000 cubic meters per day, in the presence of the US ambassador and USAID agency officials.

This comes within Al-Mashat’s visit to Luxor to inspect several development projects in the agricultural sector, highlighting its importance to the Egyptian economy and the development of Luxor into an agricultural powerhouse.

Al-Mashat said that the expansion of the wastewater treatment plant in Luxor complements the Egyptian Facility Management Agreement signed between the Egyptian government, represented by the Ministry of International Cooperation and USAID aimed to develop the drinking water and sanitation sector at about $450 million.

“This project, in particular, is going to increase the wastewater services available to people in Luxor district to reach over 300,000 people, including 50,000 people in rural areas and villages who never had this service before, so it’s going to materially transform their lives to give them a boost in the quality of life through the quality of water they have,” US Ambassador to Egypt Jonathan Cohen said.

Al-Mashat noted that the projects come within the ministry’s efforts to apply the principles of economic diplomacy.

[caption id="attachment_151024" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Wastewater Treatment Plant[/caption]

These principles include regularly organizing multi-stakeholder platforms to ensure that all projects between development partners are streamlined and effectively coordinated to accelerate the pace of development for the achievement of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); adopting a consistent Global Partnerships Narrative People&Projects&Purpose (P&P&P), and mapping ODA financing to SDGs for all projects with multilateral and bilateral development partners.

[caption id="attachment_151027" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] International Cooperation Minister and US Ambassador[/caption]

People at the Core:

Committed to creating real human impact, the current expansions will serve 250,000 people in Luxor and the surrounding villages, and many residents will be provided with water and sanitation services for the first time in their lives, noting that the station will serve about 332,000 people until 2037.

Projects in action:

In cooperation with USAID, several projects were implemented across different sectors, with the total amount of funds amounting to $814,6 million.

These projects include a center for packaging and exporting farmers’ products, a sorting and packaging station in the village of Tafanis, several projects to strengthen food security, and the water desalination plant.

Purpose as the driver:

According to Al-Mashat, the water and sanitation projects are among the most prominent projects that help achieve the National Development Strategy 2030, which is consistent with the 17 UN sustainable development goals, as it achieves several goals, such as Goal 3 for good health and well-being, Goal 6 for clean water and sanitation, goal 8 for decent work and economic growth, and goal 17 for partnerships to achieve the goals.

[caption id="attachment_150868" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Egypt's International Cooperation Ministry's aspects of Cooperation with USAID[/caption]

For his part, Cohen said: "As part of our partnership with Egypt, the United States has provided about $3.5 billion to provide drinking water to 25 million citizens in Egypt. It has also provided more than $1 billion to develop productivity and market agricultural crops."