Former Housing Minister Hasaballah El-Kafrawy passed away on Thursday aged 91, his son, Abdel-Aziz announced on Facebook.

El-Kafrawy, a career civil engineer, served as the housing minister between 1977 and 1993 during the tenures of late presidents Anwar El-Sadat and Hosni Mubarak.

He also served as the governor of Damietta for one year in 1976.

The cabinet in a statement mourned "with deep sadness and sorrow" El-Kafrawy’s death and extended heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased.

“Today we lost one of the civil engineering symbols in Egypt, who had been considered of great stature in the sector of building and construction,” the cabinet said.

The cabinet hailed El-Kafrawy for his great services to the country in all the posts he assumed.

El-Kafrawy was born in Damietta in 1930 and obtained his bachelor’s in civil engineering from Alexandria University in the 1950s.

He became the chairman of the executive organization for reconstruction in the Suez Canal Zone in the 1970s.

He was also the head of the New Urban Communities Authority in 1980 and head of the Egyptian Engineers Syndicate in 1991.

According to local reports, El-Kafrawy was behind the establishment of the first generation of new cities in the country as housing minister, and left the post after the establishment of 17 new cities.

He established the Housing and Development Bank in 1978, which funded housing projects for youth, leading to the construction of two million housing units for low-income people, according to the reports.

El-Kafrawy was awarded the Order of Merit and the Order of the Republic, first class.