Egypt

Kamel Al-Wazir participates in the opening of the Round Table of African Housing Ministers

The team delivered engineer Kamel Al-Wazir – Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Minister of Industry and Transport Speech at the ministerial session of African Ministers of Housing – At the World Urban Forum held in Egypt at the Grand Egyptian Museum, in the presence of Dr. Mostafa Madbouly – Prime Minister, Ambassador  Badr Abdel Aty – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Engineer  Sherif El-Sherbiny – Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, Dr. Amani Abu Zeid – Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy of the African Union, and the Ministers of Housing of African countries.

At the beginning  In his speech, the Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Minister of Industry and Transport affirmed his happiness to participate in  The ministerial session of African housing ministers is part of the activities of the 12th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF), organized by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, in cooperation with the Egyptian government.   

 Explaining that, based on the role assigned to this ancient platform, today we exchange successful strategies and community initiatives that have enhanced comprehensive, sustainable urban development on our continent, in order to begin together and now, so today I would like to shed light on the Egyptian experience. Which is an integral part of our continent, the African continent, in overcoming several fundamental challenges, the most important of which is the population concentration in the valley and delta over many decades, where 90% of the population was settled in an area of ​​​​only 5% of the area of ​​Egypt, and the continued movement of population from rural to urban areas, In addition to the challenges of climate change that our cities have suffered from, in 2014 greenhouse gas emissions amounted to 300 million tons of carbon dioxide, representing 0.6% of global emissions. From the transportation sector alone, emissions amounted to 48 thousand million tons of carbon dioxide. Studies and reports monitored National that normal greenhouse gas emissions  That is, (in the absence of sustainable transportation plans) by 2030 it will reach  124 million tons of carbon dioxide, which  It had a negative impact on our cities and the health of our citizens and required the Egyptian state to set its vision of integrating and coherent national plans  For comprehensive and sustainable development and linking planning at the national and urban levels and sustainable transportation to open new development horizons that would reach the disruption of the densely packed population around the valley and delta and contribute to increasing urban development and establishing new urban cities and linking them with sustainable green means of transportation, which constituted the most important and greatest incentive in encouraging citizens. To resettle them in these new cities and open up urban development horizons that achieve quality of life for citizens, adding that from here the focus was on the sustainable transport axis, which aims to create an integrated network of green sustainable means of transport, where the metro and monorail projects were based. The light rail and the BRT bus  On the ring road in the largest city in the African continent and the Middle East at all, which is Greater Cairo, in addition to the project to establish the Alexandria Metro and develop the Raml Tram in Alexandria Governorate, where more than 30% of the population of the Egyptian Republic resides. The three express electric train lines are also being implemented and the railway network is being developed. And the establishment of a number of new railway lines to connect with new urban cities. 

The Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Minister of Industry and Transport explained that the implementation of sustainable green transportation projects results in the conversion of more than 40% of transportation users. The most polluting passengers (private cars and random transport) to use sustainable, environmentally friendly, green means of transport, as well as shifting the modes of transporting goods from trucks to railways and river transport, leading to a reduction of 9 million tons annually of carbon dioxide by the year  2030, achieving an 8% reduction in carbon emissions.

The Minister added  The Egyptian state has been keen to plan and implement sustainable transportation projects (light electric train – monorail – subway – high-speed electric train…) to move to and from new urban communities in conjunction with the establishment of these cities. These projects have had a positive impact on the success of the extension. The eastern extension of Greater Cairo towards the New Administrative Capital, as well as the western extension towards 6th of October City and the increasing actual settlement of citizens.

In 7 new urban cities, the Ministry of Transport also paid attention and care to making infrastructure and means of transportation available to people of determination and the elderly. I would also like to point out that the construction of new roads that extended throughout Egypt with a total length of 7,000 km, the development, duplication and raising of the efficiency of 10,000 km of the current road network, and the establishment of integrated cross-development axes on the Nile, which we have almost completed, have already contributed to achieving the goals of economic development. And improving services, achieving the following results (connecting Egypt’s governorates and facilitating transportation between them in order to achieve integration, speed of transportation, and alleviating traffic in urban areas – contributing to the creation of new urban, industrial, and agricultural communities – reducing travel times, which has a positive impact on operating costs, in addition to Saving $8 billion annually for the cost of fuel that the state bears as a result of traffic congestion and reducing negative environmental impacts – facilitating the movement of people and goods to support development projects).

As the Minister stressed  The experience of the Egyptian state is a pioneering experience in the concerted efforts of urban planning and sustainable transportation. It deserves to be a model for solutions for urban cities in Africa, especially since Africa faces the same problems as the Egyptian state, as it is in line with the new urban plan drawn up by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, which highlighted that transportation is An essential component in planning and policy-making.

Because it has a more mandatory priority with the continued urban expansion and the increase in the number of city populations and what is recommended by the New United Nations Urban Plan to integrate transportation plans into comprehensive urban plans, especially sustainable transportation solutions, the most important of which are (Developing accessible and sustainable public transport – Better and coordinated planning of transport networks and land use – Urban freight transport planning that enables efficient access to products and services – Providing access for all using safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems – Improving road safety from While expanding the scope of public transportation – paying special attention to the needs of people of determination and the elderly).

Noting, I therefore call on our African brothers to learn about this pioneering experience and benefit from it.

At the conclusion of his speech  < /p>

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