Egypt to hold summit on infrastructure in 2022

CAIRO – 15 September 2021: Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli stated Wednesday that President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi would announce soon holding a summit on infrastructure in 2022 hosting chiefs of African and Arab states.

That was during a conference titled "Builders of Egypt," which was held to display the country's achievements in the sector of constructions and building fourth-generation cities, and to discuss Egyptian developers' chances to work in regional states.

The prime minister underlined that at present Egypt is concurrently building 25 new cities out of 31 planned ones. Those include 17 fourth-generation ones.   

The event was attended by the representatives of 25 African, and Arab countries in addition to 300 executives representing contractors, developers, banks, and financial institutions.

Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Areas Assem al-Gazar noted that the coverage of wastewater networks nationwide would become 100 percent up from 61 percent in 2022 due to introducing such utility in thousands of rural villages within Decent Life initiative.

The same applies to the water supply network, whose coverage stands at 98.5 percent nationwide and 38 percent in rural areas. Gazar added that Egypt is also implementing a plan to introduce more desalination plants by 2050. The plan is executed over phases, and the duration of each is five years.

The housing minister also pointed out to the expansion and upgrade of roads, which made Egypt's ranking on that front jump by 90 places. Those roads equally serve the target of doubling the size of urban areas from seven percent to 14 percent of Egypt's total surface area.

It is noted that the construction industry depends on 100 other industries, and offers employment to 15 percent of workers in the labor market (around five million).

Gazar stated that New Alamain City is planned to be the capital of Alamain governorate to be added to the existing 27 governorates.

In a related context, Minister of Civil Aviation Mohamed Manar Enaba stated that Sphinx Airport is being enlarged to serve the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) showcasing that Egypt currently has 27 airports.   

With regard to exporting construction services, Chairman of Arab Contractors Ali Sanafi highlighted that Egyptian firms are currently implementing roads in Iraq, and that the following opportunity can be the reconstruction of Syria.

During the conference, the names of Late Minister of Housing Hasab Allah al-Kafrawy, and late renowned developer Hussein Sabbour.