Sisi inaugurates several projects in 10th of Ramadan city

10TH OF RAMADAN - 8 January 2018: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi inaugurated on Monday several giant development projects in the roads, bridges and housing sectors.

The president opens the new projects via video conference from a hall in the 10th of Ramadan city in Sharqiya governorate.

The opening ceremony is attended by acting Prime Minister and Housing Minister Moustafa Madbouly and several ministers and senior statesmen.

The ceremony started by reciting verses of the Quran.

Addressing the gathering, Mohamed Erfan, the chairman of the Administrative Control Authority (ACA), touched upon what he called a "positive change" achieved over the past three years at the regional and international levels.

Erfan said President Sisi was determined to overcome the all the problems of the past and to steer Egypt to security and stability to build a strong nation with the help of its citizens.

A joint committee of the ACA and the Armed Forces has taken a number of executive measures to help implement the projects, Erfan said.

Electricity and water meters have been installed as part of efforts to extend utilities to social housing units and Dar Misr project, he noted.

The joint committee is acting to secure buses to serve residential projects in new urban cities, Erfan added.

He made it clear that the committee helped remove many obstacles that would have hindered the completion of some of the projects, and took legal action against violations.

The ACA chairman said that the joint committee approved the implementation of several national projects in the electricity field since February 7, 2016.

The committee approved the building of 12 power plants, with a capacity of nearly 14,000 megawatts, that will help boost the country's power generation capacity by 40 percent, Erfan added.

The new plants are located in North Giza, Ain Sokhna and the 6th of October City, he added.

Erfan said that the committee also approved the establishment of 245,000 housing units.

He further noted that the annual implementation rate of the housing units increased from 48,000 housing units annually before 2014 to 81,000 housing units annually.

The area of the residential unit increased from 63 to 90 square meters, Erfan said.

The committee supervised 236 projects of drinking water distribution networks and pumping stations that add 7.2 million cubic meters of water, Erfan said. The total cost of the projects is 32 billion pounds, he added.

The committee also supervised the implementation of 90 sewage treatment projects, including five wastewater treatment plants and the implementation of networks and lift stations to extend services to 498 villages, he said.

In the roads and bridges field, the committee oversaw the upgrading of nearly 1,300 kilometers of road networks, at a total cost of 22.5 billion pounds, Erfan said.

Erfan said there are projects for the development of subway and railway stations and carriages, at a cost of 5 billion pounds.

New grain silos and bins were also built in 16 governorates, at a total cost of 15 billion pounds, to reduce grain storage losses, he added.

The committee also supervised the establishment of 27 hospitals and medical centers affiliated to the Heath Ministry, at a total 2.6 billion pounds, Erfan said.

In the trade and industry field, industrial projects, with a total cost of 6.7 billion pounds, were launched, he said, citing the launch of Damietta Furniture City (DFC) project, north of Cairo, in 2016.

Nearly 40 percent of the city was finalized, Erfan said, adding the project will be completed in August 2018.