In April 2019, Daily News Egypt reported that the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) had transferred EGP 1.3bn to the Engineering Authority of the Armed Forces toward building a plant to desalinate seawater in the southern part of the zone. SCZone vice president Mohamed Shaaban put the plant's output at 100,000 m³/day and its cost at about €90 million, roughly EGP 1.76bn. The zone expected its southern area to need around 120,000 m³/day between 2020 and 2025 and 250,000 m³/day by 2030.
The report showed how closely Egypt tied the development of new industrial areas to dedicated desalination capacity. The first plant covered less than half of the demand the zone anticipated by 2030.
Source: Daily News Egypt