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Sustainable Development Cases in Africa Chapter j 23 475

implementation. Other incentives include a carbon tax credit and exemption of
project equipment and spare parts from customs duties and sales tax (NREA,
2016; Fulbright, 2013).
Egypt itself has significant renewable energy potential. Most of the
country’s hydroelectric potential is already built out with the Aswan Dam
providing about 15,000 GWh per year in generation. In contrast, the use of
solar energy has been disproportionately low for the available resource. Egypt
receives between 2000 and 3200 kWh of solar radiation per square meter
annually. In spite of the abundance, solar energy has been slow to develop it
was more expensive than traditional thermal generation. In 2010, there was
only one large-scale solar project in operation, an installation as part of a
combined cycle power plant, where solar produced 20 MW of the 140-MW
plant in Kuraymat. The Egyptian government clearly views the renewable
sector within the country being driven by wind energy, with notably good
resources in the Gulf of Suez and on both banks of River Nile. The Zafarana
district is Egypt’s most developed wind region with a total installed capacity of
550 MW. A second, large-scale onshore wind installation is in the commis-
sioning phase near the Gulf of El Zayt. With financing from the European
Union, the 200-MW project consisting of 100 turbines will be the largest wind
farm on the African continent and reduce carbon emissions by 400,000 tons
annually. Currently, the project is scheduled to be completed by 2018; how-
ever, investor uncertainty remains in the wake of Jan. 25 Revolution, so
development has slowed. Even so, the government incentives for private in-
vestment and a push for transparency in legal and regulatory frameworks under
Vision 2030 are good steps to spur the development of a successful renewable
energy sector (Fulbright, 2013; EU, 2017; ESI, 2015).
Zooming into the urban centers, the capital city of Cairo is ranked 99th
overall in the ARCADIS Sustainable Cities Index, primarily due to its social
welfare institutions. Cairo has now begun to focus on the other areas within the
sphere of sustainable development, particularly solid waste management
(SWM). Historically, Cairo and the other urban centers in Egypt have strug-
gled with effective and sustainable waste management. Since the 1950s, waste
management was handled by the poor working class people referred to as the
Zabbaleen. They would take the waste to their homes and turn it into anything
from quilts, to rugs, paper, pots, livestock food, compost, and recycled plastic
products. The Zabbaleen were experts in efficiency and recycling, reusing
around 85% of what they collected. To put that in some perspective, Western
recycling systems, under optimal conditions, are able to recycle 70% of the
material.
In spite of the Zabbaleen, as well as a government waste management
system, Egypt still had a waste problem. In the early 2000s, only about 60% of
Egypt’s total generated waste was being collected by the two systems (40% by