Egypt to establish service complexes in countryside as part of ‘Decent Life’ initiative

CAIRO – 2 May 2021: Egypt will establish a number of governmental service complexes, within the framework of the presidential initiative Haya Karima (Decent Life) to develop Egypt’s countryside.

 

In a statement, Minister of Local Development Mahmoud Shaarawy, said that the ministry started the measures to establish government service complexes in the villages targeted by the Egyptian Rural Development Program (Decent Life).

 

He added that building the complexes came in light of implementing the first phase of the project, which aims at developing and improving the infrastructure and living conditions in about 1,400 villages nationwide.

 

The minister revealed that the ministry conducted a survey of the existing service offices in the villages, saying there are 1,441 offices that provide services to the residents over 1.1 million square meters. He continued that the ministry will reduce the number of these office via establishing central service complexes in order to save more pieces of land for other development projects.

 

Egypt’s sustainable development plan for the fiscal year 2021-2022 has allocated L.E. 200 billion for the social initiative “Haya Karima.” The allocation was announced by Minister of Planning Hala el-Saeed before the Budget and Planning committee at the parliament.

 

The L.E. 200 billion budget allocated for the initiative will be invested in health (L.E. 27.5 billion), education (L.E. 4.4 billion), electricity (L.E. 20 billion), sanitation and drinking water (L.E. 102 billion) and paving roads (L.E. 12.2 billion).

 

In 2020, Haya Karima was announced as a non-profit organization to implement the objectives of the initiative. A cooperation between three main ministries: Local Development, Social Solidarity and Planning, in addition to the participation of 16 civil society institutions.

 

The initiative has provided financial support to the most needy citizens, as well as services including medical, residential and job opportunities.

 

A study by the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies has revealed how the social initiative “Haya Karima” has changed the livelihoods in the Egyptian villages. The study said that there was 75 percent of the villages in Egypt suffer apparent shortage in some development sectors, services and facilities such as clean water networks, sanitation and gas, electricity, schools and hospitals.