CAIRO, May 4 2005  The World Bank's Board of Directors approved a US$120 million loan for an Integrated Irrigation Improvement and Management Project in Egypt. The project will support the Government of Egypt to achieve more efficient and sustainable use of land and water resources by improving the management of irrigation and drainage for farmers in the Nile Delta supplied by El Mahmoudia and Meet Yazid canals (Project Map).

Co-financed by the Government of the Netherlands and the German Development Bank, KFW, the seven-year project aims to apply integrated water resource management by empowering water users in decision making at both the investment as well as operation and maintenance levels for irrigation and drainage infrastructure. The project will finance irrigation and drainage renovations and provide water users with technical assistance for improving water productivity and training at the district levels.

This project contributes to a solid base of nationally owned experience on which farmers, in partnership with the government, can lead the sustainable development of the irrigation sector, says Jose Simas, lead water resource engineer managing the project. This will not only contribute to the overall economic development of the country, but also create jobs and improve the standards of living in rural communities. The Nile River has served as Egypt's lifeline for centuries, supplying water to the civilizations that flourished along its banks throughout history. Today, nearly 90 percent of Egypt's 68 million people live on 5 percent of the land area along the Nile Valley and the Delta region. The Nile waters are also shared by nine other countries along the Nile Basin, all with growing water demands.

A rapidly growing population is now posing a daunting challenge for Egypt to boost the productivity and sustainability of its water use. Today, the average Egyptian has access to 950 cubic meters of fresh water per year "well below the regional average of 1,200 cubic meters and this figure is projected to decline to 650 cubic meters per year by 2017.

With 70 percent of the poor living in rural areas, boosting water use efficiency could result in substantive increase of on-farm and off-farm income and employment. And with water services accounting for 10 percent of the Government's total public expenditures, reforming water management has become critical to accelerating the country's economic growth.

To address the problem of dwindling water resources, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation has taken a lead in launching a reform agenda through a national action plan for water management in collaboration with major donors.

This project builds on the Ministry of Water Resource strong commitment to support an integrated approach as well as the Bank's long and successful partnership with the Egyptian government in the irrigation and drainage sector, says Vijay Jagannathan, World Bank Sector Manager for Water and Environment for the Middle East and North Africa.

The project has set a target of increasing water productivity by 15 percent and increasing farm-related income for the 380,000 families in the project area, at least two-thirds of whom are living on less than $2 a day. By the end of the project, water user associations will operate as independent entities, equipped with the skills to manage, operate and maintain irrigation canals in cooperation with the government.

The project is critical in supporting several goals included in Egypt's Country Assistance Strategy, such as balancing growth and poverty reduction with sustainable resource management, says Emmanuel Mbi, World Bank Country Director for Egypt.

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For more information about the World Bank's work in Egypt, please visit:http://www.worldbank.org/eg

For more information about this project, please visit:http://www.worldbank.org/projects

© Press Release 2005