All 4.8K Egyptian villages to be developed within 'Respectful Life Initiative': presidency spox

CAIRO – 28 December 2020: Spokesperson of the Presidency Bassam Rady stated Sunday that all 4,800 villages in Egypt will be developed within Respectful Life Initiative.

Rady clarified that the first phase launching in January will consist of 1,381 villages across 22 governorates and that the number may jump to 1,500 as the budget allocated to that phase is LE500 billion.

Head of the Central Unit at Respectful Life Initiative Walaa Gad al-Karim stated early in December that the development works of 1,000 villages that are home to 18.5 million citizens in 23 governorates will begin in 2021 and last for a year.

The initiative, which was launched in 2019 and has developed 375 villages, focuses on three aspects. One is infrastructure such as connecting low-income villages to water and wastewater networks as well as the electricity grid. That is in addition to introducing natural gas supply in houses with the aim of eliminating reliance on butane gas cylinders.

The second is public services like establishing schools and medical units. The third is creating job opportunities by providing credit for micro projects as well as training, and injecting investments given that many residents of such villages are irregular workers.

In January 2019, the government allocated LE9.6 billion to accomplish 1,277 projects within the second phase of the initiative. The first phase included upgrading 21,974 houses; building 1,100 schoolrooms to accommodate 44,000 students; paving roads and introducing electricity poles in 92 villages; improving access to water in 88 villages; and, connecting 47 villages to the wastewater network.