- The International Finance Corporation (IFC) requested technical support to assist the Egyptian General Authority for roads, Bridges and Land Transport (GARBLT) in attracting Private Sector Participation (PSP) for the concessioning of the Cairo -Alexandria Freeway, with a possible option of including the Port Said to Marsa Matrouh Northern Coastal Road (the Project).
- The Project involved the rehabilitation and expansion of the Cairo – Alexandria Desert toll-road to a freeway, the conditional construction of a new link road from the Cairo-Alexandria Freeway to the Alexandria-Marsa Matrouh Road, and the rehabilitation of an urban feeder road linking Alexandria to the freeway. The Project’s concession was to possibly expand to include the operations and maintenance of the entire 221 km of the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road.
- The assignment, carried out by Environics in association with Taller d’Enginyeria Ambiental, entailed providing the following services:
- Review of the Preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment (PEIA) produced by a consultant firm for:
- (i) the Cairo – Alexandria Desert Road;
- (ii) the segment of the Northern Coastal Road between Alexandria & Marsa Matrouh; and
- (iii) the new link road.
- Review of the Preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment (PEIA) produced by a consultant firm for:
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- Perform a PSEIA for all roads included in the Project, namely, the Cairo-Alexandria Freeway, the Alexandria-Matrouh Freeway, the link road, and the urban feeder.
- Present a Resettlement Action Plan.
- Support the Project Team during the implementation of the tender process.
- The PSEIA included an overview of the legal and regulatory framework and provided baseline surveys of the project’s vast area.
- The surveys covered the roads’ physical, biological, and socio-economic aspects; investigated the potential environmental and social impacts; identified mitigation and monitoring measures, and recommended cost effective and feasible mitigation solutions.
- The assessment also entailed land valuation to estimate the compensation amounts.
- The Resettlement Action Plan comprised the necessary legal and policy framework and provided socio-economic impact valuation or the original roads.