Africa Growing Together Fund provides $50 million loan to the Government of Egypt for Sustainable Development of Abu Rawash Wastewater Treatment Plant (Abu-Rawash-WWTP) Project (Linked to Umbrella Reord ID#36104)

Project narrative

On May 22, 2014, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the People's Bank of China (PBOC) signed an agreement for the Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF) (see Umbrella Record ID#36104). The purpose of this $2 billion loan facility was to finance large development projects in Africa between 2014 and 2024. The AGTF is sponsored by the PBOC and the administered by AfDB. Then, on February 6, 2018, AGTF signed an $50 million loan agreement (ID#5050200000201) with the Government of Egypt for the Sustainable Development of Abu Rawash Wastewater Treatment Plant (Abu-Rawash-WWTP) Project. On the same day, the African Development Bank issued a $100 million loan (ID#2000200002007) to the Government of Egypt for the same project. The borrowing terms of the AGTF loan as follows: a 20-year maturity, a 5-year grace period, an interest rate of 6-month LIBOR plus a 1% margin, a 0.25% commitment fee. and a $125,000 front-end fee. The first AGTF loan disbursement took place on October 23, 2018. The AGTF loan had achieved a 16.82% disbursement rate as of February 2019, a 50.27% disbursement rate rate as of July 2020, and an 83.72% disbursement rate as of March 2022. The purpose of the Sustainable Development of Abu Rawash Wastewater Treatment Plant (ARWWTP) Project is to upgrade the existing 1.2 million m3 /d primary treatment plant in Abu Rawash WWTP to secondary treatment; and expand the existing plant capacity by additional 400,000 m3 /d to reach a total plant capacity of 1.6 million m3 /day with primary and secondary treatments. The ultimate aim of the project is to protect the environment and water resources from pollution and to reduce health risks due to discharge of untreated wastewater to the drains and canals and enhance water re-use. As of March 31, 2019, the project had achieved a 10.05% completion rate (against a targeted completion rate of 13.61%). The waste water treatment plant was originally scheduled for completion and commissioning on July 19, 2021, but this date was later pushed out to April 22, 2022.