On June 30, 2011, the World Bank closed the controversial West Delta project. The Bank had approved the US$145 million loan to the government of Egypt in June 2007 to build an irrigation system that would divert water from the Nile to supply modern, export-oriented farms on reclaimed desert lands areas that are severely depleted …
CSO exchanges letters with WB & Egypt’s Min. of Water Resources re: controversial West Delta project
Habi Center for Environmental Rights continues to engage the World Bank and the Egyptian government on the West Delta project. Egyptian CSOs have been urging the Bank to consider an alternative irrigation project which would help poor farmers as well. In March 2010, Habi Center for Environmental Rights, an Egyptian civil society organization, sent two …
Egyptian NGO, Land Center for Human Rights, has filed an appeal on behalf of farmers in the Egyptian Delta, citing that the joint World Bank and Egyptian government ‘West Delta project’ violates the Egyptian constitution that should protect the rights of farmers, and not just the interests of wealthy investors. Press Release Summary Cairo, 9/15/2009 …
Egyptian civil society groups suggest an alternative water route for the West Delta Irrigation Project, that could serve poor farmers as well as rich investors, but the World Bank refuses to consider it.
Will the new crisis in the Nile affect the implementation of the West Delta project? Dr. Rushdy Said, an Egyptian geologist, says that Egypt will suffer from water problems this summer. This is the first summer after the building of the new dam in Sudan. Said also doesn’t know anything about how the Egyptian government …
The Egyptian government’s engagement in the West Delta project raises many questions regarding the repayment of the World Bank’s loan
Concerned parties threaten to file a court case against the Egyptian government if they do not receive satisfactory answers.
The project will divert water from the Nile to the reclaimed lands in the West Delta region, while the introduction of the private sector for the first time in Egypt could leave small farmers behind.