Egypt to kick off second stage of Decent Life initiative in January 2023

Ahram Online , Thursday 29 Sep 2022

Egypt is set to start second stage of the Decent Life Initiative, which comprises a series of countryside-focused national infrastructure projects, by January 2023, Minister of Local development Hisham Amna said on Thursday.

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Minister of Local development Hisham Amna during a meeting with the Egyptian Coordination's Committee of Party's Youth Leaders and Politicians (CPYP) on Thursday 29 September 2022 (Photo: Ministry of Local Development)

 

The second stage of the presidential scheme is planned to cover 1,670 villages countrywide to provide services for some 20 million citizens, the minister said in a meeting with the Egyptian Coordination Committee of Party's Youth Leaders and Politicians (CPYP).

The ministry and governorates have already determined the needed lands for the second stages' planned projects, Amna pointed out.

The Decent Life national project (Hayah Karima in Arabic) was initiated experimentally in 2019 by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and its first phase was officially launched in July 2021.

The initiative aims to improve standards of living, infrastructure and basic services including healthcare across the countryside, covering 4,658 villages across the country, which are home to 58 percent of Egypt’s 103-million population.

The enormous volume of work needed to develop the selected villages required the initiative to be divided into three stages, with a total estimated budget of EGP 700 billion.

The first stage of the initiative – that serves 28 million citizens in 1,477 villages – is expected to be concluded by December of this year, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced in August. Initially planned to be completed by 30 June 2022, the programme was delayed by a shortage of raw materials and equipment from abroad owing to the current global circumstances.

Some 23,000 projects have started within the scheme's first stage, with the implementation rate hitting over 70 percent, the local development minister revealed during his today's meeting with the CPYP.

There are many projects within this stage are ready to be launched and go into operation, he noted.

The minister praised the initiative as "a great and unique" programme that does not exist in any other country saying it aims to achieve social justice among all the Egyptian people.

The investments in the presidential programme are expected reach more than EGP one trillion, he added.

The three-stage initiative "will change the shape of the Egyptian countryside, improve the lives of citizens and make all basic services available," he stressed.

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