President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi met with the government’s economic team Monday to discuss a national project to develop villages socially, economically and residentially.
The meeting was attended by Minister of Planning Ashraf El-Araby, Minister of Local Development Adel Labib, Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly, Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Waly and the Head of the Egyptian Army Corps of Engineers Emad El-Alfy.
Labib presented the progress taking place in supplying 1,153 villages with the necessary infrastructure, construction of residential units, sanitation and road pavements. The minister added that 10 villages are being developed using money collected from the “Long Live Egypt” (“Tahya Masr”) fund.
Earlier in April, investment bank EFG-Hermes Financial allocated EGP 50m for its sub-organisation Hermes Foundation for Social Development to pursue development projects in several Upper Egyptian villages beginning in early 2015.
“This funding represents a continuation of a long series of programmes aiming to improve social participation, and this funding aims to combat poverty in the villages most in need,” said EFG Hermes Foundation for Social Development CEO Hanna Helmy.
The ministers also tackled a number of projects in 78 villages, in order to convert them to “model examples of [Egyptian] villages”.
The president pointed out the need to initiate a dialogue with organisations that work in the field of community service.
In his economic platform, Al-Sisi promised development in Upper Egypt, however addressing it in a general manner, without naming specific projects. The president’s platform stated that 22 cities for comprehensive metallurgical industries will be introduced in various Egyptian governorates, such as Beheira, Qena, Minya, Aswan, Luxor and North Sinai.
