Egypt's GIANT Desert Canal: $15 Billion Megaproject — Triumph or Catastrophe?

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:02]After 70 km, the canal divides into three sub canals.

[00:00:08]At its inception, the New Valley project was meant to bring hundreds of thousands of hectares of new land forth from the sand and relocate 6 million Egyptians.

[00:00:20]But for the moment, this vast project is on hold.

[00:00:24]Only a few pilot farms are using water from the canal.

[00:00:37]They grow dates, mangoes, alfalfa, and grapes right in the middle of the desert.

[00:00:44]They even attempt to raise sheep.

[00:00:53]But for the time being, these farms are making no profit whatsoever.

[00:01:00]The project is turning out to be much more difficult to fund and make happen in the field than its developers had foreseen.

[00:01:09]Temperatures can drop from 50 to 0° C between noon and midnight.

[00:01:15]Farmland must be watered constantly to prevent the salt in the soil from rising to the surface.

[00:01:25]The extreme dryness of the desert and dust storms complicate things even more.

[00:01:35]If the level of Lake Nasser drops in years to come due to the Ethiopian dam, the New Valley project will be jeopardized even further.