Egypt backs funding drive for 36 Nile Basin projects
The projects, in the countries of the southern basin, cover hydropower, power lines and water supply. Cairo has also opened a $100 million fund of its own.
Berlin — Egypt is backing efforts to raise money for 36 projects in the countries of the southern Nile Basin, its water minister has said.
The projects cover hydropower, electricity links between countries, transmission lines, water supply and infrastructure built for more than one purpose, the Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hani Sewilam, said during a meeting in Berlin, Daily News Egypt reports.
Where the projects come from
The 36 projects belong to the investment programme of the Nile Basin Initiative, which picks priority projects and prepares them technically, environmentally and socially before they are financed and built.
Separately, Egypt has recently launched a financing mechanism of its own, starting with $100 million. It is to pay for studies and construction of development projects in Nile Basin countries according to each country's priorities, including infrastructure and dams in the southern basin states.
What Egypt says it has already done
According to the ministry, Egypt has carried out more than $120 million of cooperation projects in Nile Basin and other African countries. They include:
- about 365 wells
- solar-powered groundwater stations
- reservoirs for harvesting rainwater
- river ports
- centres for forecasting rain and floods
- laboratories for testing water quality
It has also run flood protection and water-weed control programmes, and trained about 1,650 people from Nile Basin and other African countries.
The Berlin meeting
Mr Sewilam was meeting the head of Germany's Federal Academy for Security Policy and his delegation. They discussed joint work on water research, support for the Pan African Centre for Water and Climate Adaptation, and Egypt's role as chair of the African Water Facility.
On shared rivers, Mr Sewilam said management should rest on cooperation, consultation and mutual benefit among the countries along them, in line with international law.
Source: Daily News Egypt, 14 October 2026.
