Minister of Housing Assem El-Gazzar, Minister of State for Military Production Mohamed Ahmed Morsy, and the head of Egypt’s Arab Organisation for Industrialisation (AOI), Abdel-Moneim El-Terras, discussed on Tuesday ways of cooperation in supplying the needs of various projects within the presidential initiative “Decent Life”, a national project that aims to enhance the lives of the neediest families in rural villages.

Egypt has recently launched the second phase of the Decent Life initiative, which will provide better living conditions for 18 million people living in the poorest 1,381 villages countrywide. The government allocated EGP 500 million for the implementation of this stage during 2021.

Housing Minister El-Gazzar stated that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi instructed that the initiative should rely on made-in-Egypt products to localise and encourage the Egyptian industry and to provide job opportunities for local communities.

The initiative will be based on the implementation of a centralised procurement process that helps reduce the costs of the project’s execution.

The AOI’s head described the volume of projects currently being undertaken as “unprecedented."

Meanwhile, Military Production Minister Morsy noted that the Egyptian industry must take advantage of working on the initiative’s projects to improve the quality and efficiency of Egyptian products and enable them to compete with imported products.

During the meeting, officials from the facilities sector at the housing ministry reviewed the total requirements and tasks needed to start on the drinking water and sanitation networks in 51 hamlets, which are part of  the first phase of the initiative.

The officials also discussed the overhaul of current water projects.

The second stage of the initiative will cover the 12 governorates of Beheira, Marsa Matrouh, Ismailia, Daqahliya, Giza, Qena, Sohag, Minya, Assiut, Aswan, Luxor, and El-Wadi El-Gedid.