Al Arish, North Sinai, New Desalination Water Plant Capacity Increased to 200K M3/Day to Support 1.5M People — Preparation for the Arrival of the Palestinians (Real Jews)

• Besides the new Al Arish desalination plant, other new ones have just been delivered and are operational. 100,000 M3/day is sufficient for 750,000 people. 200,000 M3/day is sufficient for 1.5M people, about the population of Palestinians in Gaza(1.7-2M). Emphasis mine:
  –
  Egypt executes water projects of 533 mln pounds in North Sinai
  Egypt’s National Authority For Potable Water and Sewage has implemented a number of projects worth 533 million pounds in North Sinai. Work is underway to establish other projects at a total cost of about four billion pounds, said Alaa Ibrahim, the head of the executive office of the authority Tuesday. Two desalination plants have already been established in Arish at a total cost of 175 million pounds, Ibrahim said. At a cost of 25 million pounds, four well water desalination stations have been established in Sheikh Zuwaid, he added.
  –
  Another four well water desalination plants have been established in el Hassana and Nakhl cities worth 45 million pounds, he made it clear. He touched upon projects listed for implementation until 2021 at a total cost of 2.4 billion pounds. Other projects should be listed for implementation between 2019 and 2022, Ibrahim added.
  –
• Al Arish, North Sinai, New Desalination Water Plant Capacity Increased to 200K M3/Day to Support 1.5M People — Preparation for the Arrival of the Palestinians (Real Jews)
  by MENA, https://www.egypttoday.com/,28 April 2019
  N.Sinai governor inaugurates water desalination station in Arish
  ARISH, Egypt, April 28 (MENA) – North Sinai Governor Mohamed Abdel Fadiel Shousha inaugurated a water desalination station in the Masaed district of Arish as part of the governorate’s celebrations of Sinai Liberation Day, at total costs of EGP 68.5 million.
  –
  In a statement on Sunday, Shousha said that the drinking water sector in the governorate will witness an unprecedented leap in production, the matter which will guarantee providing potable water for citizens continuously.
  –
  He further announced establishment of the biggest water desalination station in the Middle East in western Arish with capacity of 100,000 cubic meters/daily to be increased to 200,000 cubic meters/daily.
  –
• North Sinai: Creating a new Egypt in Sisi’s image
  by https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/
  In the heart of Al-Arish, the capital of the North Sinai Governorate, Metito is building a desalination plant at the cost of $96 million. The water group, which is headquartered in the UAE, says the plant will provide enough water for 750,000 people. But as construction rolls ahead, local residents are asking exactly who this drinking water is for.
  –
  North Sinai only has 400,000 residents. There used to be 500,000 but a fifth of them have been displaced – mainly from Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid – as the Egyptian government pursues a systematic policy to rid the area of locals.
  –
  Ninety per cent of farms have been razed in the area; villages have been destroyed and 3,000 houses crushed to the ground to create Egypt’s buffer zone with Gaza. Residents have also been forced out south of Al-Arish where the airport is being expanded and are now bracing themselves for a third round after the Egyptian president issued an official decree to confiscate houses, residential buildings and land surrounding Al-Arish port.
  –
  Much of this displacement took place under “Operation Sinai”, a purge on the impoverished northern peninsula launched in early 2018. Under the pretext it was fighting a war on terror, authorities searched residents’ houses, demolished them and sealed off several towns. The military campaign wound down seven months later but the punitive measures have remained in place, in various degrees of intensity, since then.
  –
  Over the past three weeks a fresh security campaign has gathered pace. Security forces have bulldozed houses, prevented people mourning at funerals and installed security cameras on people’s houses, reports Mada Masr, in response to a number of terror attacks on checkpoints in late June.
  …
  It’s hard to really understand what’s happening in Sinai since the Egyptian regime has imposed a media blackout there whilst simultaneously pushing the narrative that the army’s efforts in Sinai are successful and heroic. Over recent weeks a number of social media accounts that provided vital information have been shut down and suspended. “It goes so far that you cannot even trust your neighbour,” says Ahmed. “Nobody would dare to talk to the press, an official or a stranger.”
  –
  The Egyptian government insists it is making Sinai more accessible from the Egyptian mainland as it completes four tunnels under the Suez Canal to connect it to the peninsula. But locals tell a different story. A local truck driver recently complained about the new fees at the Suez Tunnel – for private cars the price has jumped up to 20 Egyptian pounds ($1.2) from two Egyptian pounds ($0.2) and for trucks and buses from 80 Egyptian pounds ($4.9) to 200 Egyptian pounds ($12). “They don’t want anyone to come to Sinai,” he said.
  –
  The big question – what is the ultimate goal for Sinai? – should be considered in the context of the country as a whole. Many areas are undergoing similar cycles of displacement and gentrification, or the expulsion of the poor so that rich investors can enjoy their land.
  –
  Property allegedly built on state land in Marsa Matruh, a resort town on Egypt’s northern coast known for its white sands, is being demolished whilst land on the beach has been auctioned off to private bidders.
  …
  Then there’s Trump’s “deal of the century”, under which Egypt is said to be handing over a portion of the Sinai Peninsula to the Palestinians: “Most Sinawis still believe that a Palestinian state in Sinai is the goal,” says Ahmed.
  –
  On the ground, there is no doubt that the systematic, ongoing displacement of North Sinai has had harrowing effects on the people there. Prior to Metito’s plant, people in North Sinai dug their own wells and used personal generators to water the fields. The vegetables and fruit they produced were some of the best in the country, in particular their olives and olive oil products.
  –
  “It is really painful that people who worked their entire lives to ‘make the desert green’ are being forced to leave their land and with their fields destroyed,” says Ahmed. “It is hard to believe that any kind of development in Sinai will benefit the original population.”
  –
  read more.

end