The World Bank has cancelled a $38 million loan for Egypt’s sanitation projects, a governmental source with knowledge of the matter told Amwal Al Ghad Saturday.
The cancellation, taken last December, was due to Egyptian government’s delay in carry out those projects upon agreed timeframe, the source added.
It is part of a loan totalling $120 million signed with the Egyptian government in 2009, the source said.
The Egyptian government and the World Bank signed on May 15, 2008 the $120 million loan agreement to finance the Integrated Sanitation and Sewerage Infrastructure Project (ISSIP) in Egypt. The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved the loan on March 20, 2008.
The Integrated Sanitation and Sewerage Infrastructure Project (ISSIP) was launched on March 4-5, 2009 at a workshop that was jointly organized by the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development, the World Bank and the German Technical Assistance Corporation (GTZ).
The project aims to support Egypt’s reforms in the water supply and sanitation sector and its commitment to safeguarding the quantity and quality of water and addressing rural sanitation as a priority program. The ISSIP Project also seeks to contribute to the sustainable improvement in: (i) sanitation and environmental conditions for the resident communities and (ii) the water quality in the selected priority drainage basins within the Governorates of Beheira, Gharbeya and Kafr El Sheikh in the Delta region.
On the other hand, Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation has recently signed a $550 million loan agreement with the World Bank for the same purpose of financing Egypt’s sanitation projects. That is why the bank decided to cancel the unaccomplished loan, the source added.
