Gov’t hires two private companies for municipal solid waste management around Cairo: Four ministries signed contracts with Ertekaa Integrated Services & Waste Recycling and Enviro Master Environmental Services to handle solid waste management in eastern and western Cairo, the Cabinet announced. The companies will be responsible for handling waste from the doorstep of citizens, commercial areas and government buildings up until its transportation to intermediate transfer stations, as well as cleaning streets and public utilities in 18 neighborhoods.

This is the second phase of the Local Development Ministry’s municipal solid waste management system, which focuses on securing contracts with the private sector for the collection, transportation, treatment, recycling and safe disposal of waste, minister Mahmoud Shaarawy explained. The first phase revolved around closing landfills, and establishing new ones.

We’ve tried this before, and it didn’t work: When the government turned to the private sector over a decade ago to handle the situation, the companies (European imports) couldn’t find a way around structural problems in the industry, industry insiders had told us last year. This included the lack of a nationwide collection infrastructure and a market that is no longer conducive to the byproducts of recycling. On top of that, the government stopped paying service fees to recyclers who handled waste. Read up on where things went wrong with Egypt’s waste management in our Hardhat piece.

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• Germany will provide Egypt with grants worth EUR 57.5 mn to implement six projects in fields including energy, education, and water sanitation, after the International Cooperation Ministry signed an agreement with the German Ambassador to Cairo Cyrill Jean Nunn, according to a statement.