Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli underlined on Friday 07/05/2021 the importance of promoting public awareness over the importance of preserving canals, especially those which were lately developed as part of the national project for canal rehabilitation and lining.

While expounding a report by Local Development Minister Mahmoud Shaarawi on the ministry’s efforts in cleaning waterways across the nation, Madbouli underlined the important role the NGOs can play in promoting public awareness over canal preservation.

The premier underlined the importance of transferring as quickly as possible waste discharges after rehabilitating canals and promoting citizens’ awareness to stop dumping their rubbish in waterways.

In the report, the local development minister reviewed the results of the implementation of an experimental model during which a distance of 2.5 km from the Al Dhahry Al Sharqi canal in the Itay Al Baroud township was determined as an area to implement a number of measures that would contribute to solving the problems related to dealing with the waste discharges after cleaning canals and drains and the accumulated waste after the purification operations.

He said this defined distance passes within a residential block of about 35,000 people and serves about 4,200 feddans, adding that 20 tons of waste were removed from the canal after being rehabilitated.

He referred to the efforts that have been implemented in coordination with a number of concerned authorities as well as civil society institutions interested in the field of the environment to clean the canal.

Shaarawi said a month after the end of cleaning efforts, the ministry noticed that the the application of measures taken to contribute to reducing pollution of the selected canal led to a sharp decline in dumping waste into it by citizens.

He added that the experiment will be applied in three townships in three different governorates before applying it nationwide.

Source: State Information Service Egypt