Qasr al-Kharga

The Toshka Project

Egypt's most ambitious civil engineering project since the building of the Aswan High Dam, the Toshka Project (or New Valley Project) aims to cultivate 1.4 million acres of desert land in southern Egypt by 2020. The $70-billion megaproject involves the construction of a network of canals, including a 310-km-long (193-mi-long) canal that will bring water from Lake Nasser to irrigate Kharga Oasis. A giant pumping station the size of 10 football stadiums has been constructed to pump 25 million cubic meters of water a day into the canal.