Egypt embarks on new project in Congo amid faltering Nile dam talks
Congolese media announced that Egypt’s Armed Forces Engineering Authority is in the process of implementing a project to make the Congo River navigable, while the negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam falter.
CAIRO — Congolese website Zoom Eco reported Sept. 30 that a delegation from the Egyptian Armed Forces Engineering Authority, headed by Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Shahin, is conducting feasibility studies for a project to make the Congo River navigable in the low-lying sewers in the area between Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the city of Boma.
On Sept. 29, Zoom Eco tweeted a clip of the delegation in which Shahin said, “The Egyptian Armed Forces Engineering Authority has carried out aerial reconnaissance of the project area, in addition to field visits that are scheduled to be carried out until there is a positive, accurate study of the Congo River project.”
This project brought to mind the one about linking the Congo River with the Nile River in Egypt, which was proposed by Sarco, a private company specialized in the investment and mining fields, to the Egyptian government in 2013 to compensate for the water scarcity that Egypt suffers from, and develop Egypt's water resources. The project was based on the idea of transferring 110 billion cubic meters of water annually from the Congo River Basin to the Nile Basin by connecting the two rivers, doubling Egypt's current share of the Nile water.
However, on May 19, the Egyptian government announced its formal rejection of the project due to technical, engineering and political difficulties and obstacles that prevent its implementation, in addition to its high cost and the fact that the proposed waterway would need to pass through some insecure areas ravaged by civil wars.
