Egypt has secured a deal with a Chinese company to fund the infrastructure for Egypt's One Million Acres project, Housing Minister Mostafa Madbouly said following a meeting with Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb on Saturday, according to Daily News Egypt .
The Housing Ministry previously signed a memorandum of understanding with the unnamed Chinese company in May 2015 to conduct the required feasibility studies for developing the land reclamation project and provide the necessary funding and supervision, but a deal was not yet finalized at the time.
“The Chinese party requested details of the project and coordination to take place with them with regards to that issue,” Madbouly said Saturday evening.
The One Million Acres project is a massive project that aims to reclaim vast areas of Egypt's land and improve zones which are included in the national plan to reclaim 4 million acres. It also aims to create new opportunities for sustainable development and to establish integrated and developed communities which can depend on agriculture.
During the meeting with the prime minister, Madbouly reportedly presented the different procedures that are being implemented to reclaim and develop the 1 million acres in west Minya regarding land levels, groundwater capabilities, agricultural crops and groundwater wells.
In addition, he also presented the recommended uses of the lands on the site and suggested methods for development such as cultivation, industry, fish and wind farming, and logistics services.
The project's goal is to prioritize upper Egypt and the Western Desert. The project aims to make the west of the Minya governorate home to 420,000 acres out of the million that are set to be developed, while 116,000 acres will be located in Farafra in Wadi El-Gedid governorate in the Western Desert, in addition to reviving the abandoned Toshka agricultural project in upper Egypt, Ahram Online reported in April.
Egypt depends entirely on irrigation for its agricultural production and it relies on imports for food. Due to the fact that more than 90 percent of the country is desert, agricultural land stands at only 3.6 percent of Egypt's total area, according to the World Bank's data in 2012.