Many parts of the developed areas around Cairo had never been sewered; domestic waste disposal, therefore, was the responsibility of the individual householder.
The Greater Cairo Wastewater project served to address the growing sanitation needs of the capital area.
Funding was made available through the United States Agency for International Development and the Overseas Development Administration of the United Kingdom.
AMBRIC is the name used for the collaboration of American and British consultants engaged as the project’s engineering consultants. Black & Veatch, together with Binnie & Partners (now Black & Veatch) played a key role in this consortium. Expertise provided included master planning, rehabilitation, design, project management, contract management and construction supervision.
The project comprises major new capital works for sewerage and sewage treatment, together with sludge treatment facilities to relieve overload of existing facilities. The works in Cairo were split between the West Bank (of the River Nile) and the East Bank. The East Bank works incorporated design and construction of 50 kilometres of sewer tunnels; three major sewage pumping stations; and a new wastewater treatment plant (WTP) at Gabal El Asfar, including rehabilitation of existing system.
With an ultimate capacity of 3,000 mega litres per day, Gabal El Asfar WTP serves as the main treatment plant for the eastern half of the Greater Cairo Wastewater project.
Covering an area of 875 square kilometres, the Greater Cairo Wastewater project represents one of the largest wastewater system rehabilitation and construction projects in the world.
