Project News

SWMT project held the 1st JSC on 9th June 2013. JSC is planned to be held once a half year. Its purposes are sharing the information and progress of SWMT project and discussing how to proceed the project activities between JICA and Egyptian side.

From Egyptian government, Dr. Tarek Kotb (first assistant minister of Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI)), Eng. Mohamed Beltagi (head of Irrigation Department (ID)) and representatives of each related divisions (Central Department of Irrigation Advisory Service (CDIAS), Irrigation Sector (IS), Irrigation Improvement Sector (IIS), Planning Sector (PS), Training Sector of Water Resources and Irrigation (TSWRI) of MWRI and Agricultural Extension (AE) of Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR)) attended. From Japan Embassy Eng. Masuda (First Secretary) attended and from JICA Egypt office Mr. Otake (Senior Representative) attended.

The JSC began with opening remarks of Eng. Masuda (Japan Embassy). After that, Eng. Nagwa (head of CDIAS) explained the outlines of SWMT project and progress of project activities. Eng. Naito (Chief Advisor of SWMT project) proposed to revise PDM (Project Design Matrix), which defines overall goal, project purpose, outputs and activities, and PO (Plan of Operation). It was due to a change of counterparts as a result of organizational change in MWRI and amendment of project activities' schedule in PO based on the actual situation.

Through discussion, revison of PDM and PO proposed by project team were accepted. And Egyptian side pointed out 1) Clear incentives are necessary for activating the WUA (Water Users' Association), 2) Defining the roles of all related institutions including not only ID but also MALR and environmental divisions is necessary because water management transfer covers not only irrigation matter but also various matters such as excess cultivating problem, garbage problem, water quality problem and so on.

Finally, the 1st JSC was closed with the appreciation for cooperation on SWMT project activities till JSC from Mr. Otake (JICA Egypt office).

Picture of 1st JSC

In the meeting, the project team felt that Egyptian side recognizes the importance of water management transfer and expects SWMT project to cover great role for disseminating the water management transfer. The Project team hopes that the cooperative relationships between various stakeholders in central, rural and on-farm level will be built through implementation of project activities.