The Minister of Local Development discusses with the World Bank mission the executive position of the Upper Egypt Development Program and future cooperation files
The Minister of Local Development, Dr. Manal Awad, discussed, at the ministry’s headquarters in the New Administrative Capital, with a delegation from the World Bank that included Elaine Olafsen, a senior specialist in private sector engagement, Zeeshan Karim, a senior urban specialist, and Amal Felts, a senior specialist in social development, the executive position of the development program. Upper Egypt and future cooperation files.
The Minister of Local Development welcomed the World Bank delegation during its visit to the Ministry within the framework of the Bank’s current mission in Egypt to follow up on the executive position of the Local Development Program projects in Upper Egypt in the Sohag governorates. Qena, Minya, and Assiut.
During the meeting, Dr. Manal Awad praised the positive results achieved by the program in the targeted governorates during the implementation period 2018-2024, noting that a number of people benefited. The interventions of the Local Development Program in Upper Egypt amounted to approximately (8.2) million citizens in the four governorates, as the program’s interventions contributed to improving the infrastructure and services provided by (82.6%) on average for the four governorates, an increase above the target (70%).
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She said that the program has succeeded so far in pumping large investments through the implementation of 5,633 projects (current and completed) with a total investment of (27.05) billion pounds in the infrastructure sectors, the most important of which are sanitation, roads, transportation, water. Drinking, electricity and lighting, improving the environment, urban development, supporting local economic development projects, developing and raising the efficiency of local units, and supporting and developing technological centres.
The Minister referred to the directives of the President of the Republic. Regarding generalizing the practices of the local development program in Upper Egypt and implementing a road map to develop local administration and supporting decentralization in local administration units, stressing its interest in cooperating with the World Bank in developing and supporting economic blocs in the governorates of Lower Egypt and benefiting from the successful experience achieved by the program in a number of Upper Egypt governorates.< /p>
For his part, Dr. Hisham Al-Helbawy, Assistant Minister for National Projects and Director of the Local Development Program in Upper Egypt, indicated that the program succeeded in establishing a number of mechanisms necessary to involve the private sector in facilities management.
He explained that more than (59) thousand companies/business establishments benefited from the interventions of the Local Development Program in Upper Egypt in improving the business environment and involving the private sector, and according to the results of measuring the satisfaction of business owners (investors), he indicated ( 85% of business owners indicated their satisfaction with the program’s interventions to improve the business environment, pointing out that the program won the award for the best development program funded by the World Bank in the Middle East and North Africa region for the year 2023, in addition to the United Nations’ classification of the program as one of the most important development practices at the global level. In turn, the World Bank delegation praised the outcomes achieved by the local development program in the Upper Egypt governorates and considered it an achievement achieved by the government. The Egyptian government aims to develop local administration work systems, support decentralization, and develop implementation plans for it.
The delegation stressed that the Upper Egypt Development Program is a real success story that was implemented in cooperation with the Egyptian government in the governorates of Upper Egypt. Pointing to the success of the program in establishing a number of planning and organizational practices that support a gradual shift towards administrative, economic and financial decentralization, the most important of which is developing the local planning system, developing self-resources, improving the services provided to citizens and the business environment in industrial areas, and involving citizens in project planning processes, in integration with the efforts of Developing infrastructure and developing local administration.
The World Bank delegation also appreciated the efforts provided by the Minister of Local Development and the team of the program’s coordination office in the ministry in overcoming and resolving any problems facing project implementation processes. This resulted in the completion of thousands of service and development projects for citizens.
The meeting witnessed a review of some of the ongoing preparations for the World Urban Forum activities, where the Ministry of Local Development, in cooperation with the World Bank, will launch a Among the initiatives related to the outcomes of joint cooperation between the two sides, as well as participation in a number of related side sessions that discuss topics of developing self-resources and improving the process of providing services.
