Project News

On 10 November, 2012, Mr. Kunihiko Naito (Chief Advisor/Irrigation Policy), Mr. Yutaka Ueno (Strengthening Water Management Organizations) and Mr. Toshinori Hamaguchi (Trainings/Project Coordination) arrived in Cairo, and the Project for Strengthening Water Management Transfer (SWMT) has been started.

In Egypt, the supply-demand situation of water resources has become tight due to the increase of water consumption by rapid population growth and the development of agricultural lands which aims at increase of agricultural production and employment. Under such situations, the Egyptian government established the National Water Resource Plan (NWRP) which regards Year 2017 as its target to achieve effectiveness on use of water resources in agricultural sector that consumes water resources in more than 80% of the total. Thus, Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) has been planning to realize effectiveness of water use by transferring management of agricultural water to Water Users' Organizations (WUOs) from the government and been in process of implementing the related projects for establishment and strengthening of WUOs with the assistance of many donors.

Through the Water Management Improvement Project (WMIP) (2000-2007) and the Water Management Improvement Project II (WMIP2) (2008-2012), JICA has been working to establish and support the WUOs for the tertiary canals (Mescas) and the second canals (Branch Canals) and to implement construction of irrigation facilities by participatory approach (Note: This is called Joint Repair Work (JRW)), environmental campaigns, as well as capacity building of the Central Department of Irrigation Advisory Service (CDIAS) and General Directorate of Irrigation Advisory Service (GDIAS) of the MWRI which are responsible for facilitating establishment of the new WUOs. As a result, these activities indicated possibility to transfer water management to the WUOs on the levels of Mesca and Branch Canals.

Based on the outcomes of those activities above, the SWMT Project aims to establish an implementation framework for water management transfer to the WUOs on the level of Branch Canals (BCWUA) all over Egypt.

The main activities of the SWMT Project are; (1) to clarify methodologies on transfer of water management which are suitable for Egypt by selecting the pilot sites and actually implementing activities related to water management transfer there, (2) to establish a training system so that the related government staff and members of the WUOs can acquire the necessary knowledge and experiences, and (3) to develop a road map which describes activities, contents and schedule to implement water management transfer on the level of branch canals.

Since not only the CDIAS which is a main counterpart (CP) of the SWMT Project, but also the Planning Sector supervising the whole activities of the MWRI and the Training Sector for Water Resources and Irrigation (TSWRI) are involved in the SWMT Project as the CPs, it is essential to have good collaboration between these related departments and the JICA Project Team.

We will do our best to make good outcomes of the SWMT Project in cooperation with our CPs and people in Egypt.

Mr. Naito, Mr. Ueno and Mr. Hamaguchi (from the right to the left ) in a meeting with the related organization.

Landscape of Cairo city and River Nile from the JICA Egypt Office.