Toshka pumping station building goes ahead

Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mahmoud Abou Zeid said yesterday that the irrigation system for Toshka mega-project would be fully operational by next year's October war victory celebrations.

"By then 540,000 Feddans will have been reclaimed in the south valley area," Abou Zeid added.

He explained that investors in the project have created four experimental plantations to produce seedlings for cultivation once the irrigation system is fully operational a year from now.

The top irrigation official said that some 76 per cent of digging and lining in Sheikh Zaid canal has already been completed, as far as kilo 72, at a total cost of LE 1.7 billion.