Local development ministers stresses support for poorest villages

CAIRO, April 8 (MENA) - Local Development Minister Mahmoud Shaarawy has said that his top priority is to secure needs of poorest villages and improve health and environment conditions there.

The Local Development Ministry is acting to upgrade the infrastructure of houses of poor families by extending sanitation and drinking water services to them, Shaarawy said in a statement Monday.

Those families are also given priority in terms of small and micro loans offered by the Local Development Fund, he added.

So far, the Ministry has extended 40,000 drinking water and sanitation connections to 66 villages in Upper Egypt, Alexandria, Cairo and Giza, as well as the Delta and Canal regions, Shaarawy said, adding that that cost some 153.5 million pounds.

This is done as part of a "Decent Accommodation" initiative that is being implemented in coordination with the Ministry of Social Solidarity, the Ministry of Housing, the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of Awqaf, he made it clear.