The number of traffic-related fatalities in Egypt decreased in 2020, due to the rise in state expenditure on road development since 2018, according to Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development.
El-Said said, on Sunday, that the results of the investments that have been poured into roads and bridges in the past four years have been evident in the period from 2018 to 2020. This has led to a significant decline in deaths caused by road accidents by 44% in 2019/20 and by 5% in 2018/19.
“With a 97% increase in the rate of change in investment on roads and bridges from 2018 to 2020, the rate of change in the number of road accident deaths decreased to 46%,” El-Said added.
The minister said that the state has paid great attention to the transportation sector, including improvements to the road and bridges network.
She also said that investments in roads and bridges will amount to about EGP 28bn in 2020, compared to about EGP 26bn in 2019, and about EGP 14bn in 2018. This surge in investments has contributed to a significant decrease in the number of deaths due to road accidents to 7,000 in 2020. This compares to the 12,000 fatalities recorded in 2019, and 13,000 in 2018.
In the previous period, Egypt was able to achieve a great leap in infrastructure developments, El-Said said, especially regarding transport sector services.
Accordingly, Egypt has vastly improved its road quality rank, jumping 90 places from 118th in 2014 to 28 in 2019. This was calculated according to the international competitiveness classification in the field of road quality.
