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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 Jan. - 2 Feb. 2000 Issue No. 466 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 Jan. - 2 Feb. 2000 Issue No. 466
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Toshka in the crossfire
By Gamal Essam El-DinPresident Hosni Mubarak vowed this week that mega-projects would remain a priority on the government's agenda of long-term development plans for the next 25 years. He added, however, that the financing of these projects would be kept within the limits of the state budget. "The Toshka project has been the subject of intensive studies and all of them reached the conclusion that it is a necessity to meet the food requirements and agricultural export targets of Egypt in the next 25 years," Mubarak said.
Some economic analysts believe Mubarak made the statement in response to criticism of the project in parliament last week.
Critics of Toshka, led by the Wafd Party, have repeatedly complained that parliament's Agriculture and Irrigation Committee was excluded from debating details of the project. The state budget, which requires parliamentary approval, does not mention financial allocations for Toshka, the critics argued. As a result, they concluded, the project would remain shrouded in mystery as long as the government denied parliament the right to discuss it.
However, with the appointment of a new cabinet in October, parliament has been able to bring the Toshka project under scrutiny. The Agriculture and Irrigation Committee of the People's Assembly was allowed to pay three visits to Toshka.
And last week, the committee took the initiative of conducting a series of hearing sessions about the project in the presence of Irrigation Minister Mahmoud Abu-Zeid. Three deputies submitted requests for information about Toshka.
According to Ayman Nour, a Wafdist deputy, the position of the project's critics had been misinterpreted in government circles. "The Wafd Party is not against the idea of launching national mega-projects. In times of economic stagnation, some countries resort to the implementation of such projects in a bid to promote business activity and break off recession. The question is: Does this apply to Toshka? The answer, deplorably enough, is 'no'," said Nour.
He claimed that no scientific-economic feasibility studies of the project had been made. "In one month, I have been able to collect a plethora of contradictory press announcements about Toshka. An official source said LE2 billion was spent on Toshka while other sources asserted that expenditure greatly exceeded this amount. The People's Assembly was not provided with any exact figures. All the state budgets presented to us over the last four years lacked figures about the Toshka project," Nour said.
Joining forces with Nour, Ibrahim El-Nimiki, deputy chairman of the Assembly's Legislative Committee, and Hassan Abu Saadiya, an MP for the Delta governorate of Kafr El-Sheikh, said colleagues who visited Toshka recounted "frightening" stories about the project's construction costs. "I'm afraid that this project will turn out to be a drain on the economy," El-Nimiki said. "In the days of former prime minister Kamal El-Ganzouri, there was a lot of optimism about this project. No sooner had El-Ganzouri been replaced than his rivals in government circles began painting a very pessimistic picture. We, parliamentarians, as well as the man in the street, need to know the truth. Is Toshka an economically feasible project?"
For Abu-Zeid, the deputies' requests for information provided what he called "a unique opportunity" to reveal all the facts about Toshka in parliament. "It was mentioned that parliament had been excluded from discussing the Toshka project. I'm happy to come to the People's Assembly to answer all questions about this project," he said.
Abu-Zeid explained that the Toshka project is part of the government's plan of land reclamation for the next 25 years. "This plan, which was drawn up in 1992, aims to reclaim as many as 3.4 million feddans by the year 2017. This figure includes an area of 450,000 feddans to be reclaimed in Toshka," Abu-Zeid said. The plan, he added, provides for the reclamation of land in northern and southern Egypt as well as the Sinai desert. "Some say Toshka was implemented out of the blue and at an unjustified speed. No; Toshka has been on the reclamation map and on the waiting list for implementation," the minister said.
According to Abu-Zeid, a number of feasibility studies, costing $4.5 million, showed that in ancient times Toshka was the nation's food basket. These studies, which were conducted by the Irrigation Ministry, the World Bank and potential investors such as Saudi Prince Al-Walid bin Talal, reached the consensus that the return of crop cultivation in Toshka was high, ranging from eight to 13 per cent. "We combined these [190] studies in one detailed study which we submitted to Arab credit institutions interested in funding parts of the project," the minister said.
Turning to another controversial point, Abu-Zeid said that water requirements for land reclamation in Toshka and Sinai would range from five to nine billion cubic metres per year. "Our water policy is to recycle the use of our Nile quota, which is 55.5 billion cubic metres annually," the minister said. "This will adequately meet water requirements for land reclamation targets."
Abu-Zeid explained that the first stage of the Toshka project is the construction of a water-pumping station. "This is the largest pumping station in the world and in history. It will cost LE1.4 billion and will be completed in the middle of 2002," he said.
All in all, he added, the total construction cost will stand at LE5.7 billion. By the end of December 1999, LE2.5 billion had been spent. "This figure was added to the state budget. You have to read it very carefully. It was clearly stated that this amount was allocated to the implementation of the Southern Valley [Toshka] project," the minister told the parliamentarians.
Right now, the project has two sections. The first is being implemented and funded by Prince Al-Walid, while the second is being financed by the Abu Dhabi Fund ($100 million) and implemented by a group of Egyptian companies.
"I hope these facts will prove to you that there has been well-organised scientific groundwork for Toshka. It is not a matter of pessimism and optimism. I promise to always be answerable to parliament throughout the various stages of this giant project," said Abu-Zeid.
