The Ministry of Local Development in Egypt announced the implementation of 5,130 projects with total investments amounting to 22.2 billion pounds in Upper Egypt, within the “Local Development Program.”
During a meeting with the governors of Qena, Sohag, Assiut, and Minya, Dr. Manal Awad, Minister of Local Development, reviewed the projects of the “Local Development Program” in Upper Egypt, which is being implemented in cooperation between the Egyptian government and the World Bank, in the four governorates. The requirements of the next stage were also discussed to accelerate the implementation rates of the program’s projects, maximize the development impact of its outputs on all governorates of the republic, and integrate with the “Decent Life” initiative.
Manal Awad pointed out during the meeting that the program is one of the most important national programs, as it enjoys the attention of the government and the World Bank, which made it one of the most important development programs that are used as a guide at the national level, to support integrated local development, through the integration of infrastructure projects and the development and improvement of local administration policies and mechanisms, and the promotion of development.
The Minister of Local Development said, “The coming period will witness a doubling of the maximization of the benefits of the current program outputs and significant integration with the “Decent Life” initiative, through achieving balanced regional development by strengthening urban-rural links, enabling lower levels of local administration to provide public services and respond to citizens’ needs efficiently and effectively, multi-level local economic development, facilitating and stimulating investment in industrial zones.”
Local Development Program
The Minister added that the “Local Development Program” in Upper Egypt contributed to providing high-quality infrastructure in a number of sectors in the targeted governorates, linked to the basic needs of the citizens of these governorates.
She pointed out that the Egyptian government has adopted these reforms and has begun to generalize them at the national level. They include reforming the local planning process, simplifying and improving operations related to services for citizens and businessmen, the mechanism for distributing financial allocations at all local levels, governorates and centers, improving the asset management system, enhancing the local administration’s own revenues, and expanding the scope of performance-based grants at the national level.
The Minister of Local Development said: “The programme also contributed to enhancing the competitiveness of the governorates and enabling them to lead the local economic development process. The programme contributed to providing and preparing the necessary infrastructure to provide a supportive environment that stimulates investments and private sector involvement, which is a basis that enables local administration to lead the local economic development process, within a framework that supports the policies and work systems of local administration.”
The governors thanked the Ministry of Local Development for the support it provided to accelerate the implementation of all targeted projects within the “Local Development Program” in Upper Egypt, and the technical support provided to the program units in the governorates of Qena, Sohag, Minya and Assiut.
The governors pointed out the need for coordination in the targeted industrial zones, to accelerate implementation rates during the coming period, raise occupancy rates and coordinate with the Industrial Development Authority, and the importance of sustaining the outputs of the local development program in Upper Egypt within the targeted governorates, and continuing cooperation with the program’s coordination office to transfer all financial allocations, and to monitor the executive position of all projects, with the aim of completing them during the coming month of October, in addition to the importance of monitoring the operation of all projects and their entry into force.