EGYPTIAN POLLUTION ABATEMENT(EPAP) III

The Environmental Pollution Abatement Programme (EPAP) fosters sustainable development in Egypt by addressing industrial pollution sources affecting the environment and human health through a combination of infrastructure investments and tailored technical assistance, supporting implementation and long-term sustainability of depollution solutions (including environmental monitoring and inspection capacity). As such, EPAP III will assist the industry to comply at the least with national environmental regulations. To do so, the programme includes an investment component that addresses point source pollution from industrial pollution as well as diffuse pollution. The investment component is coupled with a set of technical assistance (TA) and institutional support activities to insure the sustainability of the project, aiming at (i) supporting Programme implementation (ii) strengthening the enforcement capacity of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) and iii) helping the banks to become more pro-active in the financing of environmental projects. The credit lines proposed by the EIB/AFD will be intermediated by local commercial banks and will be combined with TA and direct investment grants (NIF/KfW).

Line of credit intermediated by local commercial banks to finance pollution abatement investments promoted by public and private industrial companies.

Planned investments concern pollution abatement in existing industries. The main objective of the project is to set a framework for encouraging cleaner production uptake in Egypt by promoting technologies achieving significant pollution abatement in the industry, i.e. control, reduce or prevent anthropogenic emissions. The outcomes will definitely entail a significant improvement of the environmental performance of the industrial installations and neighbouring environment. Most or all investments are expected within the premises of existing industries, and are expected to require an Environmental Impact Assessment under Egyptian legislation. One of the eligibility criteria for sub-projects is that they must achieve a substantial (>50%) pollution reduction and reach compliance at least with national emission standards. The grant for investment will allow not only large to mid-size but also small companies/industries or clusters of small companies having a significant polluting impact to obtain financing for pollution abatement. By focusing on SMEs, the project will also support job preservation and creation. Detailed evaluation criteria for the sub-projects were agreed during appraisal.

The Bank will require the promoter to ensure that implementation of the project will be done in accordance with the Bank's Guide to Procurement. The procurement arrangements under the proposed project will be compared to those implemented under EPAP II.

This operation is covered by the ELM Guarantee.

This operation is covered by the EU Guarantee for EIB loans outside the EU.