Environmental benefits of USAID/Egypt projects

The evaluation confirms that the projects have had a significant beneficial impact on the environment. In the electric power sector, USAID efforts have accelerated the replacement of mazout-fired plants by gas-fired plants, which produce much lower levels of pollutants than does the combustion of oil. Additionally, USAID"s efforts to improve the efficiency of the power sector, to cut transmission losses, and to affect policy by encouraging the repricing of electricity to approach actual costs all have led to incremental reductions in emissions. In the wastewater sector, USAID projects have led to a much higher percentage of urban Egypt being serviced by sewerage and treatment facilities, thus greatly reducing the levels of effluent reentering the water system. There are additional reductions in levels of effluent reentering the water system because of USAID"s policy efforts to cause water and sewer use to be prices at market values instead of being subsidized. In industry, the ECEP project, through its Gas Analyzer and other demonstration projects, has directly reduced air emissions by replacing "dirty" boilers, or equipping them to burn more efficiently. Indirect benefits will also accrue from ECEP"s work as the technology demonstrations lead to replication by Egyptian industry. (Author abstract, modified)