Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri gave strict instructions to the Water Resources and Irrigation Ministry to immediately remove all forms of illegal building on the Nile River and other waterways after official reports underlined their risks to Egyptian agriculture, ministry sources said Tuesday.
The ministry formed a work group to monitor the six month campaign for the removal of encroachments on the Nile River and to arrange a media campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of such violations.
Top official sources at the ministry said a campaign to remove ground water wells from desert roads was also scheduled to begin after official notifications to legalize their status in accordance with ministry regulations are sent. The regulations seek to prevent the depletion of aquifers to protect agricultural investments along the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road and other regions.
Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hesham Qandil said the removal campaign would take place in the Greater Cairo area and in other governorates, pointing out that it is aimed at protecting the Nile and ensuring irrigation water reaches all canals and waterways to solve the problems of inadequate irrigation in the northern Nile Delta governorates.
Qandil added that the Nile water protection sector’s technical equipment successfully removed all encroachments located in the Sahel Selim region in Assiut and the Kafr Shukr City region in Qalyubiya Governorate.
Qandil went on to say the campaign would continue its work in coordination with the Interior Ministry and the armed forces to protect the Nile banks from all forms of violation in accordance with the ministry’s policy of protecting the Nile from illegal building and pollution.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
