West Delta Water Conservation and Irrigation Rehabilitation Project

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The West Delta Water Conservation and Irrigation Rehabilitation Project objectives are to improve the livelihood and increase the income of people in the West Delta region of Egypt through: (i) mitigating further environmental degradation caused by excessive drawdown of the groundwater resources; and (ii) establishing a framework for financial sustainability of irrigation infrastructure in the use of water resources. The project has three components with the first being the design, construction, and operation of surface water system and connection program. This component will finance the design, construction and operation of a surface water irrigation system and connection program within the project area, taking into consideration the specific environment and social requirements. The second component is the market-driven technical support to small and medium scale farmers. This component will provide market-driven technical support to small and medium scale farmers in the project area to increase their market share, at the national and international level. Finally, the third component is the support for institutional development and capacity building of the project management unit (PMU), regulatory office and water user's council (WUC). This component will be funded through donor grants from the Netherlands and will support capacity building of the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) for public private partnership contract management, construction supervision consultants, regulatory oversight, and to the WUC association along the lines of the policies for institutional reform proposed by the MWRI and in cooperation with the government of the Netherlands.