Egypt's parliament (photo: Khaled Mashaal)
Egypt's parliament, the House of Representatives, is scheduled to reconvene on Sunday to discuss a foreign grant aimed at containing the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the lives of underprivileged citizens.
A report prepared by the House's Social Solidarity Committee indicated that the grant, estimated at $500,000 and provided by the African Development Bank (ADB), aims to offer urgent humanitarian relief assistance to impoverished citizens, seasonal workers and physically-challenged people who suffer from anti-coronavirus measures and lockdown scenarios.
"The grant aims to offer urgent humanitarian assistance in the form of necessary food supplies to people in poorer districts and to people who have lost their jobs and their sources of income due to the anti-coronavirus measure," said the report, adding that "the grant will be used by the ministry of social solidarity and the Egyptian Food Bank to provide food supplies to 37,000 families who were badly affected by the anti-coronavirus measures."
"Each family will get a pack of food supplies estimated at EGP 200 or $13.2 as a kind of urgent humanitarian relief assistance," said the report.
The House is also scheduled to discuss on Sunday a foreign loan aimed at fighting air pollution and climate change in Greater Cairo.
The loan, estimated at $300 million and offered by the World Bank for Reconstruction and Development, will be allocated to improving air quality in Greater Cairo in the form of fighting pollution and reducing greenhouse gases.
A report by the House's Environment Committee said that the loan will also be used to manage garbage in Greater Cairo in the form of building a number of solid waste management stations and providing technical assistance for the ministry of environment to help contain hazardous waste in industrial cities. "The loan will be also allocated to helping hospitals get rid of medical waste in a healthy and environment-friendly way," said the report.
The House will also discuss on Sunday and Monday a number of reports on the balance sheet of the state's 2019/20 budget, as well as the budgets of 50 national economic institutions.
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