By: Abdullah Bedeir

Cairo – Mubasher: The Egyptian Ministry of Housing’s Holding Company for Water and Wastewater (HCWW), New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA), and General Organization for Physical Planning announced a five-year plan between 2020 and 2025 for expanding in seawater desalination plants across the country as part of a plan for water conservation.

The most populous Arab nation aims to establish and develop 47 seawater desalination plants with a combined capacity of 2.44 million cubic metres per day (cmpd) at a total cost of EGP 45.18 billion, according to the plan reviewed by Mubasher.

The plan covers 10 governorates; namely, North Sinai, South Sinai, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, Red Sea, Dakahlia, Kafr E-Sheikh, Beheira, and Matrouh.

The plan includes four main axes: meeting the water requirements for addressing the future growing demand of the existing communities; providing an alternative water resource instead of drinking water transmission to Matrourh, Red Sea, and Sinai; providing an alternative water resource to surface water; and meeting the water requirements for urban development.

The first axis includes building 19 plants with a capacity of 312,000 cmpd at a cost of EGP 6.84 billion, while the second axis comprises the establishment of seven plants with a capacity of 335,000 cmpd at a cost of EGP 6.6 billion.

In addition, the third axis covers the construction of 19 plants with a capacity of 1.29 million cmpd at a cost of EGP 29.64 billion, while the fourth axis includes building two plants with a capacity of 100,000 cmpd at a cost of EGP 2 billion.