Egypt's parliament approves bill on state public planning, provisions of bill on tourist facilities

CAIRO - 25 January 2022: The House of Representatives has made a final approval to a bill submitted by the government on public planning.

The House approval came after the draft law was referred to the State Council.

The bill aims to support the institutional framework of the planning and follow-up process through upgrading units of the administrative authority, atop of which the strategic planning and policies unit.

It is also meant to promote good governance throughout the planning process; whether at the level of bodies, programs or projects.

A financing equation had already been outlined by the ministries concerned in cooperation with local and international development partners to guarantee fair distribution of investments.

This bill also seeks to diversify financing resources through encouraging the private sector to contribute to development projects, as well as settling the sustainable development goals and maximizing benefits from the comparative advantage in the different Egyptian governorates.

Also, the House of Representatives has approved provisions of a bill suggested by the government on tourist and hotel facilities.

The draft law aims to ease the issuance of licenses for hotel and tourist facilities from the Tourism Ministry through a one-stop shop.

This should also help improve the business rating of Egypt in international reports and hone its competitiveness in attracting investments.

The bill is also meant to adapt to developments in the tourism industry over the past decades.

It is designed to increase the state’s public resources from the tourism sector through legal regulations.