Kuwait Fund wins award for financing $416 million water project in Egypt

The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development has received the 2024 Abdullatif Yousef Al-Hamad Development Award for financing Egypt’s Bahr Al-Baqar wastewater treatment and agricultural reclamation project, valued at about $416 million, the Fund said on Monday.

The Bahr Al-Baqar project, inaugurated in 2021 in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, is the world’s largest wastewater treatment plant, with a daily capacity of about 5.6 million cubic metres.

It treats agricultural, industrial, and municipal wastewater diverted from the Bahr Al-Baqar drain and channels the treated water through the Sheikh Jaber Canal to irrigate around 400,000 acres of land east of the Suez Canal. It supports land reclamation and reduces pollution in Lake Manzala.

According to the statement, the project includes the construction of barrages, a large-scale treatment plant, and facilities for agricultural processing and livestock development.

Waleed Shamlan Al-Bahar, Acting Director General of the Kuwait Fund, said the facility is operating at full capacity and contributes to economic, social, and environmental development in the area.

The Fund said the project aligns with several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including clean water, food security, and sustainable economic growth.

Since 1964, the Kuwait Fund has financed 54 projects in Egypt across sectors such as agriculture, energy, water, transport, and social development, according to the statement.

The Abdullatif Yousef Al-Hamad Development Award recognises leading economic and social development projects in the Arab world and is named after the late Kuwaiti development official who headed several regional funding institutions.