Egyptian Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities Assem el Gazar said on Thursday New Mansoura City is considered one of the fruits of economic development in the new republic.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the first phase of New Mansoura City, in the presence of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Gazar said the Egyptian state views urbanization as a “development vessel”.
The Delta region is home to 20.6 million people and when compared with other parts of Egypt, “we will find that it is the second largest region in terms of population, after the Greater Cairo region, which is inhabited by 25 million people, the housing minister said.
He said that while the Delta region suffers from high population density, it has the least opportunities to accommodate urbanisation, whether for housing or other activities. The meaning here is that its development vessel is full to the brim when it comes to basic activities especially those on which it depends; namely agriculture and fishing, he added.
The minister pointed out that the areas available for providing services, economic activities and green areas to improve the quality of life in the region are limited and highlighted the lack of balance in the distribution of its population between urban and rural areas.
He noted that the percentage of the population in urban areas at the level of the Delta region is only 28 per cent whereas at the level of other parts of the country it is 45 per cent and at the global level it is 55per cent.
Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities Assem el Gazar said harmony between cities and villages in Mansoura led to urbanisation of rural nature.
Gazar said the ministry has started to implement new urban schemes since 2010 targeting cities of the Delta region.
Such urbanisation efforts have mainly contributed to adding more areas to build further urban communities, according to him.
The solution does not lie in urban expansion and sprawl on farmlands, the minister said.
Agriculture is the most popular activity in the Delta region, he mentioned.
Minister Gazar underscored the necessity of intervening to ensure an optimum use of all areas and plots of land in old and new urban communities.
Old urbanisation policies reflected the culture of the society and was interested in individuals and green and open areas and adhered to planning and construction rules and systems in accordance with the national strategy for human rights and the right to decent housing, said Gazar.
Yet, he said, due to some flows that caused urban sprawl and unrestricted growth in many urban areas of housing, commercial development, and roads over large expanses of land many agricultural lands were lost.
He added that his ministry aims to provide decent housing for inhabitants and also encouraging economic activities.
Efforts are focused on developing and raising the efficiency of ongoing urbanization programs, especially in capitals of governorates, he noted.
The ministry seeks to set up new cities and increase housing units as well as improve living standards, in addition to bridging the gap in economic and service activities in newly developed areas in villages and cities of the Delta, according to him.
