“Story of Homeland” conf. highlights Egypt’s investments to attain SDGs

02 / 10 / 2023

By Marwa Nassar - -

The Conference of “Story of Homeland ..Between Vision and Achievement” highlighted Egypt’s investments in order to move forward towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially with regard to education, health, urban development and decent housing.

The conference unveiled that EGP 2 trillion investments were injected into the housing sector and another EGP 2 trillion into the transport sector.

During the second day of the conference’s session themed “National Projects and Infrastructure”, a documentary film said that EGP 8 billion investments were allocated for upgrading 358 unsafe areas in the period from 2014 till 2022.

The film added that EGP 540 billion was earmarked for establishing about 1.2 million social housing units, currently under construction.

The documentary film added that 24 new cities of the have been constructed and 14 others will be launched soon, in addition to the establishment of the new administrative capital to be a hub for businesses.

Housing Minister Asem Gazzar said a total of EGP 2 trillion was invested in housing projects over the past nine years.

Meanwhile, Transport Minister Kamel Wazir said that EGP 2 trillion was earmarked for implementing a 10-year plan to upgrade all sectors of the transport system ending in July 2024, expecting the total cost for renovating the sector to hit EGP 3 trillion by 2030..

Wazir said the plan covers all sectors, including roads, bridges, railways, tunnels, electric traction, ports, logistics zones and river transport.

As for the educational sector, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli said a total of 120,000 classrooms were built at a cost of 40 billion pounds, noting that the number of universities increased to 96 against 50 universities in 2014.

Concerning the health sector, Madbouly said that treatment at state expenses cost EGP 87 billion pounds over the past nine years.

He referred to the presidential health initiatives, including ending waiting lists at hospitals, the 100 million healthy lives initiative, the women and children healthcare initiative, and the national campaign to eradicate hepatitis C which was extended to African countries after its success in Egypt.

This helped the state to realize a remarkable breakthrough in the health sector.

Madbouly also highlighted during the conference that Egypt spent more than EGP 203 billion on all aspects of social care.

He pointed out that the Takaful and Karama cash support program began in 2014 to offer benefits to 1.7 million families, noting that now its beneficiaries have exceeded five million families.

He expounded that the initial budget for the program was EGP 3.7 billion, but later on it shot up to about EGP 31 billion in light of the bloating population.

The premier also underscored the importance of the Decent Life initiative to develop the Egyptian countryside, whose first phase is set to be completed this year at estimated investment costs of EGP 350 billion. He pointed out that once this phase, which targets 18 million people, is finished the second one will be launched to targeting roughly 1,680 villages.

As for creating jobs, he said that unemployment rate reached about 13.2 in 2014 and has decreased now to reach 7.2.

Egypt is striving to attain the Sustainable Development Goals despite all challenges facing it, therefore, the conference was keen to bring these efforts to spotlight.