Egypt is carving a man-made river across the desert to grow food where nothing grew before

Project officially opened by President Sisi in May 2026 during the wheat harvest on the new land.

Goal is to turn about 2.2 million feddans (roughly 9,000–9,200 square kilometres) of Western Desert into farmland — an area the size of Cyprus.

Main water source is treated agricultural drainage water that used to flow into the Mediterranean.

El Hammam treatment plant handles up to 7.5 million cubic metres a day and holds Guinness records as the world’s largest of its kind.

Water travels roughly 170 km west through the Al-Hammam canal system plus shorter routes, lifted by more than a dozen big pumping stations.

Some stretches use large underground pipes (about 3 metres wide) to cut evaporation losses in the hottest desert sections.

Total spending so far sits around 800 billion Egyptian pounds (about $15 billion).

Focus crops include wheat, corn, vegetables, olives and figs to cut Egypt’s huge food import bill.

Government says it will create more than two million jobs and expand the country’s cultivated land by about 15 %.

Satellite images already show thousands of circular centre-pivot fields greening the desert along the Cairo–Dabaa highway.

Project is heavily run by military-linked agencies and big agribusiness, not small farmers.

The B1M (Ian Parkin / Fred Mills) — 24 June 2026https://www.theb1m.com/video/egypt-is-building-a-new-nile

The National — 17 May 2026https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/05/17/egypts-president-opens-new-delta-project-to-grow-wheat-in-desert-with-artificial-river/