In April 2018, Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House) reported that the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) had agreed a $100 million loan to Egypt. It closed the funding gap for five desalination plants in southern Sinai, after earlier loans in 2016. Investment minister Sahar Nasr and KFAED director Abdel Wahab El Badr signed in Jordan during the yearly gathering of Arab financial institutions. The scheme also included eight pumping stations and 42 km of pipeline. KFAED was also funding a plant at East Port Said.
The report showed Arab development funds financing desalination in remote parts of Egypt, embedded in a three-year, $900 million programme for the development of Sinai.