Egypt has just announced an ambitious project called “New Delta”. What is that? In short: an artificial river 114 kilometers long, worth over 5 billion euros. It will be the largest of its kind in the world.
An incredible feat of engineering
The Egyptian man-made river comprises two distinct projects, “Egypt's Future” e “South of El-Dabaa Axis”. The objective of both is in fact to contribute to improving the cultivation of strategic crops. A viaticum that will help reduce imports and deal with the problems caused by conflict in Ukraine.
“New Delta” will do in a modern and thoughtful way (as well as on a smaller scale) what the Nile did in ancient Egypt with its annual floods: increase the agricultural surface area. According to Asharq Business, the agricultural area cultivated thanks to this project will be 900.000 hectares.
Artificial river: employment effects and food security
On the employment front, “New Delta” will open up numerous job opportunities. It is estimated that the project will offer around 10.000 direct hires and over 360.000 related jobs. The Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi declared (not without emphasis) that the artificial river will be the largest project in the history of Egypt. No, he didn't use the term “pharaonic".
The Egyptian State Information Service website reiterates that the goal of the artificial river is to lower the prices of high-quality agricultural products by exporting the surplus abroad. In a few key words: reduction of imports, sustainable development and food security.
On the horizon, a colossus
Egypt is not the only country planning an artificial river to solve water and agricultural problems. Recently, Saudi Arabia also revealed its obviously mammoth plans (The Mirror Line docet).
The Saudi man-made river promises to be even longer than the Nile, a good 12.000 kilometres. Of course, with a width of only 11 meters and a depth of 4 meters. Not really navigable, let's say.
These ambitious projects could radically change the future of agriculture and water supply in arid areas such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia. One day we may see long, man-made rivers crossing the desert, bringing life and opportunity to millions of people.
