The Dutch company Gakon has been chosen to supply the sludge drying installations for the Bahr al-Baqar wastewater treatment plant under construction east of the Suez Canal in Egypt. The sewerage project, one of the largest in the world, is intended for the decontamination and irrigation of plantations in the Sinai Peninsula.
The Bahr al-Baqar wastewater treatment plant project is still in the news. The Gakon Company is joining the consortium responsible for the construction of this wastewater treatment plant on the Sinai Peninsula. As part of this wastewater treatment project, the company based in Wateringen (Netherlands) will supply equipment for the installation of Huber technology dedicated to drying the sludge of the future wastewater treatment plant.
Gakon will supply and build 16 greenhouses of 9,200 m² each, covered with solar panels that will provide the electricity needed to dry the sludge from the wastewater treatment plant. “As a partner in the joint venture, Huber will also supply the fully automated sludge feed unit with a moving floor system and the Ro8 T conveyorised units. In addition, Huber will take over the electrical control of the solar drying plant and, of course, the detailed process engineering”, says Gakon.
Largest sewage treatment plant in the country
The construction of the Bahr al-Baqar wastewater treatment plant has been awarded to Arab Contractors and Orascom Construction. The plant will recover the wastewater that flows along the Bahr al-Baqar drain. It meanders for 106 km from the governorate of Dakahlia to Sharqia, and from the governorate of Ismailia to the governorate of Port Said. The effluent that enters the drain during the journey comes from Sinai households, industries and plantations in the region. The plant that will handle this wastewater will have a capacity of 5 million m3 per day, making it the largest in Egypt and one of the largest on the African continent, if not the world.
The size and the number of greenhouses for drying the sewage sludge are sufficient proof of the size of the Egyptian government’s project. It also aims to restore 138,600 hectares of plantation east of the Suez Canal, through the reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation. The sanitation project will require an investment of US$739 million, financed by the Egyptian government through loans from the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (Fades) and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED).
Jean Marie Takouleu
