Local development minister says to follow up development projects under construction

CAIRO - 16 January 2018: New Local Development Minister Abu Bakr el Gindi said the ministry will work on completing the development projects which have been launched during the tenures of his predecessors.

The minister's remarks were made during his first meeting with senior officials of the Local Development Ministry to review the important files and priorities of work in the coming phase.

Gindi said that the structural organization of the ministry will be finalized in the coming days and it will be approved by the Central Agency for Organization and Management.

The minister also said poverty rates in Upper Egypt exceed 50 percent, underlining the importance of pushing forward development and urbanization efforts in such areas to improve living conditions for their people. He cited statistics revealing that 80 percent of Egyptian migration operations abroad come from Upper Egypt because of the lack of job opportunities there. Upper Egypt really needs to be developed, he asserted, saying that statistics show that 70 percent of development projects in Egypt are concentrated in Cairo and Giza and that's the reason of the availability of job opportunities in both governorates whereas they are lacking in other parts of the country.