The Egyptian government, through the country’s Armed Forces Engineering Authority has awarded Arab Contractors and Orascom Construction a US $739m contract for Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) of Bahr Albaqar wastewater treatment plant located near Port-Saïd in the northeastern part of the country.
The construction of the Bahr Albaqar wastewater treatment plant is part of Bahr Albaqar drainage project, one of the most important projects under the US $1bn Sinai Peninsula Development Program.
The project according to the ministry will be financed through loans that have already been acquired from the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (FADES) and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (“Kuwait Fund”).
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One of the largest water treatment plants in the world
The Bahr Albaqar wastewater treatment plant is projected to be the largest in Egypt and one of the largest in the world. Upon completion, it will have the capacity to treat up to 5,000,000m3 of water on a daily basis.
This water, or other the project is intended to be used to increase the agricultural area in Egypt, particularly in Sinai Peninsula by supplying treated water to 330,000 feddans east of the Suez Canal and to 70,000 feddans currently under cultivation in Sahl Al Tinah and Qantara Sharq. Subsequently the total land for cultivation will rise up to 400000 feddans.
Boost to the economy
It is expected that this project will be a boost to the Egyptian economy by being a major supplement into the increment of the quantities of export and reduction of imported agricultural products, creating new business opportunities and over 40,000 jobs in the fields of agricultural manufacturing, animal production, management of the transport system, water treatment, the purification of tunnels and sewage, as well as in building and construction works.
excellent progress groundwater is disappearing.