Your top infrastructure stories of the week:

• Port development: General Authority for Ports and Dry Land Chairman Amr Ismail met with an IMF delegation to discuss progress in public-private partnerships in port development projects.
• Energy and water conservation: Researchers at Egypt’s Nile University have created a prototype solar canal, covered with photovoltaic cells, that reduces levels of evaporation to conserve water, allowing it to be used for agriculture or to produce energy.
• Communications & Transportation: Orange Egypt and Mwasalat Misr signed an agreement that will see the mobile network operator outfitting Mwasalat buses and bus stations with WiFi without charge.
• Automation: The Finance Ministry is looking into using ACI pre-registration systems at Egypt’s ports in a bid to cut red tape and streamline customs procedures, reducing the time needed for customs procedures to a maximum of three days and creating an online shipment tracking portal.
• Electric grid: Schneider Electric signed an agreement with the Electricity Ministry to build power control centers for Egypt’s electricity grid.