CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated Sept. 28 the Bahr el-Baqar wastewater treatment plant in Port Stated governorate, within the northwest of the Sinai Peninsula.
With a day by day manufacturing capability of 5.6 million cubic meters, the plant was registered within the Guinness Book of Records because the world’s largest agricultural wastewater remedy plant. It took two years to construct the plant at a price of 18 billion Egyptian kilos ($1.14 billion).
The plant contains seven bridges and 6 siphons, along with carry stations to move water from the west to the east banks of the Bahr el-Baqar drain beneath the Suez Canal.
The plant will treat the water collected from the Bahr el-Baqar drain, to be distributed to northern Sinai.
Talking on the inauguration ceremony, Sisi stated, “We will now inform the individuals in Sinai that the water provide is out there for outdated agricultural lands and for the brand new ones that we search to domesticate,” in reference to lands that the state is searching for to reclaim.
The Bahr el-Baqar drain stretches over a distance of 190 kilometers (118 miles), from south of Cairo to Port Stated, passing by means of the governorates of Ismailia, Sharqia, Dakahlia and Qalyubia, and discharges in Lake Manzala and the Mediterranean Sea.
Sisi stated the challenge included altering the course of the water drain that discharged into the Mediterranean Sea, to gather it and deal with it earlier than transferring it to Sinai. There, he continued, the water will likely be used to domesticate lands reclaimed as a part of a nationwide challenge to develop the Peninsula.
The Egyptian authorities is planning to reclaim about 476,000 feddans (roughly 500,000 acres) in a number of components of central Sinai, together with in Bir al-Abd, as-Ser and al-Qawarir, so as to set up deliberate communities.
A supply near safety and authorities circles in Sinai informed Al-Monitor that the agricultural sector within the space has been badly affected by the safety operations which were ongoing since 2013 in northern Sinai.
He identified that agricultural lands that the individuals labored on for many years utilizing rainwater or underground wells additionally shrank.
The supply stated the Bahr el-Baqar challenge displays the federal government’s will to play a significant function within the improvement of the Peninsula, even with out the participation of the residents.
Abbas Sharaki, professor of geology and water assets at Cairo College, informed Al-Monitor that the Bahr el-Baqar plant is a significant turning level within the improvement plan for Sinai. He believes supplying Sinai with the Nile waters doesn’t solely contribute to enhancing agriculture, however can even encourage creating new city communities there.
In 2018, the Egyptian authorities introduced a plan to develop Sinai with the assist of the Egyptian military, coinciding with the safety operations there. Sinai was marginalized for many years after its liberation from the Israeli military in 1973 and its full return to Egypt following the Camp David Accords signed between Cairo and Tel Aviv in 1979.
The Egyptian authorities has spent greater than 650 billion Egyptian kilos (about $41.4 billion) on development projects in Sinai since 2014. It additionally allotted 275 billion kilos ($17.5 billion) in investments within the area, together with 175 billion kilos ($11.1 billion) from Arab establishments and funds, between 2018-19 and 2021-22, in accordance with official data by the Ministry of Planning, Monitoring and Administrative Reform.
Alia el-Mahdi, former dean of the college of economics and political sciences at Cairo College, informed Al-Monitor that the federal government’s plan to reclaim and domesticate lands in Sinai is a optimistic step, however land reclamation have to be entrusted to main firms.
Nonetheless, it appears the federal government continues to be dealing with difficulties in attracting investments to Sinai, in accordance with what Sisi stated through the inaugural speech. “We hope that the personal sector and traders be a part of the work in these lands … domesticate, profit and preserve [the area] alive,” he famous. “We are going to present all of the required providers.”
Sharaki stated the state shouldn’t take care of the Sinai improvement tasks primarily based on the normal financial standards, i.e., the features and losses these tasks would register. It is because, in accordance with him, they’re strategic tasks that contribute to rebuilding and repopulating Sinai.
The peninsula covers a floor space of 61,000 sq. kilometer (23,500 sq. miles) — 6% of Egypt’s floor space — however only one.5 million individuals — 1.5% of Egypt’s inhabitants — reside there. Sharaki believes this determine ought to enhance to six million.
On Sept. 29, the federal government issued calls for tenders for 17 improvement communities in Sinai, with the intention of settling plenty of households in Sinai.
North Sinai Gov. Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha stated in a Sept. 30 press statement that the state goals to settle 3.5 million residents in city communities in central Sinai.
However the presence of armed teams continues to pose a risk to improvement plans in Sinai. On this context, Sisi instructed in September the minister of protection to protect the workers engaged on these improvement tasks.
Within the early 2000s, extremist teams emerged primarily within the northern and central a part of Sinai, beginning with al-Qaeda and extra not too long ago the Islamic State. The armed teams’ actions have considerably declined because the launch of Comprehensive Operation-Sinai 2018 and the formation of special forces tasked with combating terrorism in Sinai and securing improvement tasks there.
In a report on anti-terrorism operations in Sinai launched in August, the Egyptian authorities stated it has succeeded in tightening management over Sinai, as terrorist operations have declined in comparison with earlier years, whereas the individuals’s residing situations have been steady. The federal government stated that the army and safety forces proceed to pursue the remnants of terrorist teams.
Commenting on the developments on the safety stage, the Sinai-based supply stated that the areas of Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah are virtually devoid of armed teams. However, he added, energetic pockets stay in Bir al-Abd, which can threaten improvement tasks in addition to the residents.
In the meantime, on Sept. 27, Sisi inaugurated 4 seawater desalination vegetation within the cities of Abu Zenima, Dahab, Nuweiba and Ras Sedr, with a complete manufacturing capability of 53 cubic meters per day.
These tasks mirror the federal government’s plan to face the water challenges in Egypt primarily posed by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), in accordance with Sharaki.
Egyptian TV discuss present host Amr Adib, who’s near the federal government, stated throughout his present on MBC Masr Sept. 27 that the launching of those tasks is available in response to the Ethiopian allegations about Egypt losing its water assets over the previous 10 years. He defined that the canal lining projects and the constructing of water remedy and desalination vegetation verify that Egypt is eager on preserving each drop of water.
Mahdi, in the meantime, believes that the federal government’s improvement plan in Sinai is step one on an extended highway to construct a productive society and villages in Sinai.
