On 8 December, on the margins of the “Business for Africa Forum 2018” in Sharm El-Sheikh, the European Investment Bank (EIB) signed a new financing agreement of EUR 214m for the depollution of the Kitchener drain in the Nile Delta region. It contributes to the environmental objectives highlighted in the EU Egypt Partnership priorities and represents the first project supported by the EU Bank under the Clean Oceans Initiative.

Launched together with the KfW Group and l’Agence Française de Développement, the Clean Oceans Initiative aims at reducing pollution in the world’s oceans over the next five years.

This project will improve drain infrastructure and sanitation availability for around 6 million people in the Nile Delta region. By reducing pollution in the 69-km long Kitchener Drain, it will contribute to the depollution of the Nile and, ultimately, of the Mediterranean Sea.

The depollution of the Kitchener drain is the first phase of a larger investment programme that was identified by an EU financed pre-feasibility study under the supervision of the Mediterranean HotSpots Investment Program II. It’s part of an integrated depollution project involving multilateral cooperation between the EIB, the European Union - Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF), and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in wastewater and sanitation, solid waste, and drain rehabilitation – a first of its kind in Egypt.

Clean Oceans Initiative factsheet

See the press releases:

http://www.eib.org/en/infocentre/press/releases/all/2018/2018-248-declaring-war-on-plastic-to-save-our-oceans-the-worlds-major-climate-financiers-eib-kfw-and-afd-launch-a-2-billion-euros-initiative.htm 

http://www.eib.org/infocentre/press/releases/all/2018/2018-334-the-eib-provides-eur-229-million-to-support-infrastructure-in-egypt.htm