Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly meets with governors via video conference (photo courtesy of the Cabinet)
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly urged governors to be prepared to deal with heavy rainfall amid expectations of another wave of stormy weather during the coming days, especially in coastal governorates.
In a video conference with governors and concerned ministers on Monday, Madbouly called for clearing storm drains and providing the required equipment for governorates to immediately deal with the rain.
This meeting comes days after some governorates, including Alexandria, were hit by heavy rains affecting traffic, damaging at least two buildings, and causing six deaths and several injuries.
Madbouly also stressed the importance of the crisis management chambers in every governorate and coordinating continuously with sanitation companies in the face of the changing weather.
He called for formulating a vision to raise the efficiency of water networks in areas with shabby systems.
Madbouly affirmed the importance of continuous coordination between Water Resources Minister Mohamed Abdel-Aty and the Egyptian Meteorological Authority, to follow up on the weather conditions during the coming period and take the required decisions to ease any repercussions.
He urged governors to suspend school classes at their discretion in the event a governorate experiences heavy rains or floods in the coming days.
Madbouly said that rainwater in governorates that were hit in the first wave of stormy weather exceeded the capacity of the sanitation networks designed to contain excess water, especially since they have no separate networks for rain.
He added that it only took a few hours to remove the water from the streets of these governorates, given how the relevant officials took to the streets to follow up on water removal, and due to the availability of the required equipment.
He noted that areas with poor urban conditions were the most affected.
Minister of Local Development Mahmoud Shaarawy and Minister of Housing Assem El-Gazzar attended the meeting.
Coronavirus measures
During the meeting, Madbouly encouraged following up on the preparedness of hospitals nationwide to receive Coronavirus patients. He also called for ensuring the availability of drugs and treatment protocols officially used to treat the novel virus.
He affirmed the importance of applying precautionary measures to face the spread of the pandemic.
Building violations
The meeting also addressed reconciliation requests in building violations, saying that 2.395 million requests have been submitted so far.
“We will not allow this phenomenon anymore. It is your responsibility, as governors, to immediately prevent the random construction of any building,” Madbouly stated.
Short link: