Two waste transfer stations with a combined capacity of 600 tonnes a day have opened in Dakahleya and Gharbeya at a cost of €3.8m as part of the Kitchener Drain water-quality improvement programme.
The facilities, located in Nabroh in Dakahleya and Nsheil near Qutour in Gharbeya, form part of the solid-waste component of a wider programme aimed at reducing pollution from municipal waste, untreated sewage, and industrial discharges along the Kitchener Drain.
Local Development and Environment Minister Manal Awad said the solid-waste programme is backed by a €79m loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and an €8m European Union grant and covers Dakahleya, Gharbeya, and Kafr El-Sheikh.
The inauguration was attended by the governors of the three governorates, EU Ambassador to Egypt Angelina Eichhorst, and representatives of the EBRD and Egyptian agencies involved in the programme.
Each of the new transfer stations has a design capacity of 300 tonnes per day. The Nabroh facility serves the city and five surrounding rural units, while the Nsheil station serves Qutour and several surrounding villages, as well as areas linked to Mahalla El-Kubra.
The stations use a direct-transfer system in which local collection vehicles unload waste from an elevated platform into larger trucks below. The system is designed to separate shorter collection rounds from longer journeys to treatment or disposal facilities.
Officials said the system should enable smaller collection vehicles to make more rounds while reducing fuel, maintenance, and transport costs.
The Kitchener project director said the Nabroh station was designed to handle around 300 tonnes a day and that the transfer model could significantly reduce fuel consumption compared with having smaller collection vehicles travel long distances to final disposal sites.
The ministry estimates that the Nabroh station could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 4.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per day through lower fuel consumption. The statement did not provide a comparable estimate for the Nsheil facility.
The wider solid-waste programme also includes five recycling plants with a combined capacity of 4,200 tonnes per day, Awad said.
Two plants are scheduled to open in December and another two in February 2027. The ministry did not specify an opening date for the fifth facility. An earlier ministry announcement said contracts had been signed for four recycling and waste-treatment plants under the programme.
The project also includes 47 waste collection and transport vehicles and upgrades to eight depots used to operate and maintain the fleet.
Authorities also plan to close and rehabilitate the Qalabsho dumpsite, where an estimated 2.5 million cubic metres of accumulated waste cover about 60 feddans, according to the ministry.
The solid-waste component forms part of the broader Kitchener Drain programme, which also targets untreated sewage and industrial pollution and includes rehabilitation of the drain itself.
Awad said the government was seeking to integrate the investment with wider waste-management programmes in Dakahleya, Gharbeya, and Kafr El-Sheikh, and urged officials to complete the remaining facilities according to schedule.
