President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has said the government allocated LE600 billion for the development of rural villages nationwide over three years within the framework of the “Decent Life” Initiative, LE200 billion annually for each phase of the executive plan. President Sisi called on civil society organisations to take part in the ‘Decent Life’ Initiative.
The president remarks came during an inspection tour on the equipment, vehicles, and engineering machinery of the various state bodies taking part in the implementation of the initiative.
Initially, total costs of the projects were estimated at LE450 billion over three years, but Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli and the relevant ministerial group concluded that each phase would rather need LE200 billion, totaling LE600 billion, the president said.
President Sisi stressed that priority is given to national industry in carrying out this huge national project, saying the Egyptian factories and firms have a real opportunity to promote their capabilities, improve production and make profits.
Implementing Decent Life Initiative will bring about real change in the lives of half the Egyptian population, in the countryside, the president said.
President Sisi offered greetings to all those who have prepared and taken part in the initiative, either state institutions, the Armed Forces or the civil sector.
More than 50 or 60 million Egyptians live in the countryside, which require enormous effort, and tremendous resources to be spent over a certain period of time span, President Sisi said, hoping it would be completed in the three years.
“We have promised to completely change our people’s conditions through the initiative… and this is our duty towards our nation,” President Sisi said.
Addressing those in charge of Decent Life Initiative, which was launched in 2019, Sisi noted that this is a huge integrated project that covers education, health, communications and agriculture sectors. It will “change the countryside in 52 centres across the nation.”
The president urged the Egyptian people in the targeted villages to co-operate with the authorities in order to speed up the implementation of the mission. He emphasised that the state is highly concerned about developing houses in these villages, so that people would lead a real decent life.
President Sisi referred to encroachments on agricultural land as a major problem in Egypt over the years. He said that urban planning in the countryside would help put an end to these encroachments.
The president said he believed that but for disorderly building over the past 50 to 60 years, Egypt would have saved one million, to nearly two million feddans of the best fertile land that had been cultivated over thousands of years.
“We have lost dear part of our land,” said the president. By the same token, President Sisi urged owners of agricultural land to do their best and preserve it. He referred, in this context, to the exorbitant costs of land reclamation, which overburdens the state budget and makes it difficult for the government to direct resources to major development projects.
The government aims to establish a new delta, through the reclamation of about 2.5 million feddans, to be based on irrigation from using triple treatment of wastewater, a matter that costs billions, the president said.
President Sisi also stressed that the state is work as hard as ever to make “our people happy… This our role. We face our problems, seriously and truly, so as to change our lives and improve people’s conditions, through your co-operation, as we can’t achieve this on our own.”
Meanwhile, the president said the government would build houses in rural areas, to be provided with all the needed utilities. This will cost the government about LE30 to LE40 billion, which requires the contribution of the civil society.
He said about 150,000 houses will be built in the first stage of the initiative, noting that the state aims to build up to half a million houses.
Discussion about this post