WB president praises Egypt sanitation experiment in rural areas

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has praised the Egyptian experience of the rural sanitation project with funds from the international body, noting that the WB is working on transferring Egypt's knowledge globally.

Addressing the plenary session of WB Annual Meeting, Kim said: " Let me give you an example of how we’ve successfully transferred knowledge and experience across regions."

"Through our new structure of Global Practices, knowledge sharing across countries has become easier and faster. For example, when the Government of India came to the Bank to prepare a major program to expand sanitation services for the poor, we were able to transfer knowledge and experience from Egypt’s Rural Sanitation Project and apply it in India." he added.

"That resulted in the 1 billion dollar Swachh Bharat Rural Sanitation Project in India, which applied knowledge of good service delivery – in the areas of local governance, transparency and accountability to citizens - that had already been taken to scale in Egypt. Thanks to our Global Practices, we are now working to share knowledge from these two projects globally." Kim explained.

"The changes we put in place were done for a reason: to help us better deliver results for you on the ground." he added.

Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities Mostafa Madbouli said the ministry has formed a follow up unit to manage the sanitation project that is being carried out in as many as 155 villages in the governorates of Sharqiya, Beheira and Daqahliya at a total cost of dlrs 550 million.

The minister praised the big support of WB to render the project a success, noting that WB Regional Director Asad Alem was keen on extending the international body's backing for the project.

The minister noted that the WB president's remarks are considered a credit for international confidence and would give the ministry a push to deliver better sanitation services for the targeted villages with necessary quality and timing.

The Egyptian government has given priority to sanitary drainage projects at the current phase in order to raise the sanitation service coverage in villages over the coming two years, the minister said. 

Source: MENA