Egypt’s interim government has adopted a plan for developing a 1,200 kilometer stretch of desert along the Nile River Valley and delta developed by Boston University geologist Dr. Farouk El-Baz.

The “Desert Development Corridor” plan includes the construction of an eight-lane superhighway, a railway, a water pipeline, and a power line. The goal of the infrastructure plan, estimated to cost about $24 billion, is to improve the water supply and open new land for agriculture, urban development, and tourism, said El-Baz.

Details of the project are in El-Baz’s book, Development Corridor: Securing a Better Future for Egypt, published in Cairo in 2007. 

El-Baz, a native Egyptian, is a prominent research scientist and director of Boston University’s Center for Remote Sensing. He also served NASA’s Apollo lunar exploration program.

The university said El-Baz originally proposed the plan to Egypt’s former government in 1985. After Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down in early February, El-Baz traveled to Egypt to meet with government leaders and the general public to explain the plan and how it would “reinvigorate the country” and open up new living space near the Nile River.

“This project includes opening up a vast strip of Egypt just west of the narrow living area along the Nile that can be utilized in establishing housing communities, expanding agriculture, initiating industrial compounds, and enhancing the potential of tourism,” said El-Baz. “Most importantly, the activity opens up the possibility of a bright future for the young generation. One that is full of new opportunities where they may innovate and excel.”

El-Baz suggested that the government name an international board of trustees to run the program and seek initial funding from bonds to be offered to the Egyptian people who would own the project, according to El-Baz.

egyptdailynews