West Delta Irrigation project

Project will divert water from the Nile for desert reclamation, to the detriment of poor farmers in Egypt's breadbasket

The World Bank's $145 million loan for the West Delta project will finance the construction of an irrigation system that will divert water from the Nile to supply modern, export-oriented farms on reclaimed desert lands that have severely depleted groundwater sources.

Despite projections that the project will supply up to 37,500 hectares of arable land in the West Delta, some experts argue that the implementation of the project could simultaneously devastate the agricultural lands downstream of the project along the Old Delta, which are predominantly farmed by small landowners who could be deprived of adequate water to irrigate their lands.

BIC's MENA Program assisted local groups in successfully pressing the Bank to disclose key documents in Arabic, and it continues to work with Egyptian civil society to engage key stakeholders in the project to defend the rights of marginalized farmers and to counter negative environmental impacts.

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