Cairo – Mubasher: The European Investment Bank (EIB) signed a financing agreement worth EUR 120 million with the Egyptian government to finance the development and expansion of the Alexandria West Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP).

The project aims to improve sanitation services provided to residents of the Mediterranean port city, EIB said in a statement on Monday.  

The funding will be used to raise the capacity of the waste water treatment plant in a bid to meet the needs of residents up to 2050.

The project also involves upgrading “the level of treatment at the WWTP from primary to secondary to improve the quality of effluent from the plant and contribute to the depollution of Lake Maryout as well as the Mediterranean Sea thus contributing also to the objectives of the Clean Oceans Initiative,” according to the statement.

The ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Egypt Ivan Surkoš stressed that the water sector is “key to socio-economic development, not just from the environmental perspective but also contributing to green growth and in particular through greater resource efficiency.”

"The EU EUR 20 Million grant contribution to the Alexandria Waste Water Treatment Plant forms part of our efforts in that direction," he added.