Water
03 feb 2011
The Netherlands provides substantial support to the Egyptian water sector, by supporting the coordination of the implementation of the National Water Resources Plan (NWRP).
It does this by assisting Egypt to develop decision-making structures at central and local levels with a focus on improving operational systems for planning, implementation and monitoring.
Dutch support is also provided to the Egyptian-Dutch Advisory Panel on Water Management (APP). The APP has proven to be a valuable 'think-tank' and consultation model in which policy makers and players in the water (management) sector from both countries participate.
Other projects that receive support focus on Water User Associations (WUAs) and irrigation.
NICHE support for the Egyptian water sector will be complementary to the abovementioned Dutch support to the NWRP. The following themes have been selected:
- waste water treatment;
- integrated water management;
- water transport.
The discussion group sesssions revealed that the sector is in transition from technically distributing an abundant resource, to allocating what is today a scarce resource.
This means political choices have to be made. The participants of the discussion groups also highlighted the same problem present in the agriculture sector: a lack of skilled labour.
The opportunities for river transport are currently underused. In terms of environmental advantages and cost reduction river transport is preferable over road, rail or air transport. NICHE will focus on the current lack of skilled personal to facilitate the increase of river transport.
