The International Bank for Reconstruction & Development (IBRD), part of the Washington-based World Bank, has agreed a $550m loan to Egypt’s Ministry of Housing Utilities & New Communities for a rural sanitation project.

The Egyptian government will contribute $170m.

The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) and other development banks have expressed an interest in financing the remaining $530m of the $1.25bn project.

The scope of the project involves connecting around 167,000 households in 769 villages in the Beheira, Dakahliya, and Sharkiya Governorates to sanitation networks.

Some of the funds will also be used to reform Egypt’s water companies and tariff system.

The work is due for completion in 2020.

The World Bank estimates that Egypt will need to invest $14bn in its National Rural Sanitation Programme to bring connection rates in rural areas from 96 per cent to 100 per cent.

The IBRD may extend a second $550m loan for later phases of the project.

Egypt is also upgrading its wastewater treatment facilities through public-private partnerships. Two bids have been submitted for the Abu Rawash wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Four more WWTPs are in the pipeline, with a total capacity of nearly 400,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d).