Egypt’s housing, tourism ministers chair national committee meeting on ‘Great Transfiguration’ project in Sinai

CAIRO – 18 May 2022: Egypt’s Minister of Housing Assem El-Gazzar and Minister of Tourism Khaled El-Anani chaired on Wednesday a meeting for the presidential national committee regarding the project of “the Great Transfiguration over the Land of Peace” being implemented in St. Katherine.

The project comes as part of efforts to develop St Katherine, which lies in the middle of a mountain range, the most famous of which is Mount Musa, on which God Almighty spoke to his Prophet Moses, a Cabinet statement read.

This is in addition to Mount Catherine that houses the ancient monastery of St. Catherine, which is one of the most ancient monasteries in the world.

The project to develop the unique site aims to prepare the site for use and make it available to visitors from all over the world, Gazzar said.

He added that the development works aim to protect and improve the area, develop it in a balanced manner, and preserve the natural environment and the heritage that characterize the area.

The development work includes removing all distortion that existed at the area in order to highlight the site in a way that befits its uniqueness on the world level, Gazzar added.

The Great Transfiguration Over the Land of Peace project is also consistent with the surrounding environment, Gazzar said, noting that the development work is based on the surrounding environment in order to achieve sustainable development.

For his part, Anani said that the project to develop the site of the Great Transfiguration project aims to preserve the environment and has many environmental merits in addition to the merits for tourism and the local community.

In April, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi followed up on the progress of work on a number of national projects at the level of the republic, including the "Greatest Transfiguration” project.

Late last year, Gazzar said the Great Transfiguration project aims at converting the sacred mountainous area in St Katherine into a spiritual shrine and a tourist destination.