Cairo – Mubasher: The Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation signed an agreement with the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) to resume financing the construction of Bahr El-Baqar drainage system with KWD 75 million ($249 million).

The drainage system, one of the major projects being established within the Sinai Peninsula development programme, will help the country in the optimal use of available water resources, minister of international cooperation Rania Al-Mashat said in a statement on Wednesday.  

The estimated cost of the project amounts to $1 billion to be financed through a funding package by AFESD and Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED).

This is the fourth funding agreement signed with the aim of financing the project. Previously, a KWD 70 million agreement was signed with AFESD and two agreements worth KWD 75 million was signed with KFAED.

The project will create about 100,000 direct jobs and 1.2 million indirect jobs and save 1.8 billion cubic metres of treated water annually, which can be used to increase the cultivated area by 400,000 feddans.

It is noteworthy to mention that the Kuwait-based pan-Arab development finance institution AFESD has so far financed 64 projects in Egypt with a combined value of KWD 1.629 billion ($5.533 billion).