Double-Edged Hydropolitics on the Nile - Center for Security Studies ...

<strong>Double</strong>-<strong>Edged</strong> <strong>Hydropolitics</strong> on the Nile
Regional and national workshops as well as consultative meetings with
various local-level water users, NGOs, research institutions, consultants, private
companies, etc. were held in preparation of the NWRP. However, these
stakeholder meetings are perceived more as being top-down information
transfer events to communicate governmental policies rather than as truly
participatory exercises allowing for bottom-up design of water policies. Most
of the involved non-governmental organizations or user groups lack the
institutional capacity and /or the political weight to contribute substantially
to the planning process. The establishment of stakeholder platforms – such
as the Egyptian Water Partnership – is seen as a promising step, though
arguably these platforms are still somewhat dominated by representatives
of governmental agencies.
Cooperation between different (sub-) sectoral agencies at the local level
is also reported to be rather fragmentary and hampered by the fact that the
spatial areas of responsibilities of the different administrative bodies often
do not match (Radwan 1998). Interactions between users and extension staff
of national ministries suffer from the limited decision power of the latter,
inefficiency, and corruption (Radwan 1997).
4.7 Selected policy issues
This section presents four case studies to illustrate specific characteristics of
Egyptian water policy processes in some more detail.
108
Reclamation of new lands
Horizontal expansion is a key strategic target pursued by the government
of Egypt in order to address population growth, high unemployment rates,
and land loss due to urbanization and overexploitation. Escaping the narrow
Nile Valley has been a dream of Egyptian rulers throughout the millennia.
Moving agricultural production to unpolluted and non-fragmented land