The Egyptian government responded to a request by the Ugandan Ministry of Water and Environment for assistance with flood mitigation by funding and executing a project to protect the Kasese District from dangerous flooding. The Kasese District is located in the Rwenzori Province in Western Uganda.
Every rainy season, River Nyamwamba on the slopes of Mt Rwenzori bursts its banks, leaving behind a trail of destruction.
Earlier this year an Egyptian technical delegation comprised of experts from the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation was sent to study, assess, and preview the geographical area as well as assemble all requisite data from the site for the project.
Ahmed Bahaa El Din, head of the Nile Water Sector at the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, related that the memorandum of understanding for this project was signed by the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation and the Ugandan Ministry of Water and Environment in April 2016. He stated that the first phase of the project started 13 March 2017 and included surveying the site, removing debris from the Nyamwamba River in the Kasese District, excavating and de-silting the river, and erecting protective walls at four identified hotspots along the river.
He added that to date about 83.43 percent of the scope of Phase One work has been completed under supervision of an Egyptian engineer resident in Uganda, who worked with a joint Ugandan and Egyptian team.
The project was officially launched in August 2017 when Mohamed Abdel-Ati, Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation joined the Ugandan Minister of Water and Environment to inaugurate the project.
Execution of the other phases of the project is ongoing.