Egypt’s tendency to increase spending on roads and bridges in Egypt since 2018 has contributed to the decrease in the number of deaths resulting from road accidents during 2020, Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said stated on Sunday.

El-Said explained that the results of the investments that have been directed to the establishment and maintenance of roads and bridges in the past four years were evident in the last two years from 2018 to 2020, as road accident deaths decreased by five percent in 2018/2019 and by 44 percent in 2019/2020.

“With an increase in the rate of change in investment on roads and bridges from 2018 to 2020 to 97 percent, the rate of change in the number of road accident deaths decreased to 46 percent in 2020”, according to El-Said.

The minister asserted that the state has paid great attention to the transportation sector, including the network of roads and bridges, explaining that investments in roads and bridges amounted to about EGP 14 billion in 2018, bringing the proportion of investments to EGP 26 billion in 2019, and then to about EGP 28 billion in 2020, which contributed to a decrease in the number of deaths due to road accidents to 12,000 in 2019 and 7,000 in 2020, compared to 13,000 in 2018.

She also stressed the importance of the transport sector as one of the most important sectors in the state’s plan, due to its connection with the services that affect the citizen directly through the national projects for roads, bridges, subway lines, railways; and the projects of the Egyptian Authority for the Safety of Maritime Navigation, and other services provided by the sector to the citizen.

El-Said pointed out that during the previous period, Egypt was able to achieve a great leap in the infrastructure sector, especially in the services of the field of transportation.

She noted that Egypt managed to improve its position in the field of roads, as it jumped 90 places according to the classification of international competitiveness in the field of road quality, where it jumped from the 118th position in 2014 to the 28th in 2019.