Sisi starts periodical meetings with governors

CAIRO – 13 January 2019: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi met on Saturday with New Valley Governor Mohamed al-Zamalout as well as a number of senior officials and popular leaders in the presence of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli.

Presidency Spokesperson Bassam Rady told press that the president will hold meetings with governors periodically throughout this year to follow up on the implementation of development plans, and services offered to the citizens.

Those meetings will also create an opportunity for direct communication with the central executive bodies to shed light on challenges, eliminate obstacles, and reinforce societal participation in the decision-making process.

Zamalout presented the main achievements that took place in the governorate since 2014 in the sectors of infrastructure and education. A university was built, while 253 schools were renovated to reduce the classrooms crowdedness to 30 students maximum.

A big number of residential units, water plants, wastewater projects, power stations, and wheat storage tanks were accomplished. Livestock production facilities were built, and the dates production complex was renovated.

Support was granted to small and medium enterprises, and an Investors Service Center was established.

Zamalout also put forward some proposals to develop the governorate, including the renovation of roads and railways, the investment of state-owned lands and old buildings, the modernization of health units in villages and increasing the number of doctors, the maximization of agricultural lands' productivity, particularly lands cultivated with wheat, the establishment of solar plants, and the usage of sand in certain industries.

The president directed ministries to study the proposals, and said that investment opportunities in the New Valley are becoming promising in light of the development in the national roads network better connecting all governorates together.

The president also stressed the importance to develop agriculture and livestock production in the governorate, and preserve the high-quality of dates produced. Egypt is the largest producer of dates worldwide.

The president ordered the establishment of a mechanized complex encompassing branches of all governmental agencies and authorities; clearing encroachments on state-owned lands and legalizing the status of some beneficiaries; switching to solar energy to operate underground water wells which would save water in the irrigation process; and creating incentives for physicians to work in remote governorates.