Manal Awad, the Minister of Local Development, has outlined the government's new action plan from 2024/25 to 2026/27. The ministry aims to empower the economy and support small and micro enterprises by financing over 6,500 projects through the "Mashroak" programme, in collaboration with six banks. Additionally, more than 5,700 projects will be funded by the Ministry's Local Development Fund. These initiatives are expected to create over 500,000 job opportunities across governorates and bolster 90 craft and agricultural clusters in needy areas, in cooperation with the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Agency. During a special committee meeting convened by the House of Representatives to discuss the government's action plan, Minister Awad emphasized the implementation of provisions related to executive authority as per the 2014 Egyptian Constitution. This includes promoting administrative, financial, and economic decentralization by empowering local administrative units and transferring certain authorities and budgets to them. The national roadmap for local administration development and decentralization will be discussed with the Local Administration Committee and other relevant committees. To ensure effective decentralization, Minister Awad stressed the importance of specific, time-bound procedures. These efforts align with constitutional provisions and recommendations from the initial phase of the national dialogue. The Ministry of Local Development is committed to supporting other ministries in creating a competitive local economy attractive to investments. This involves enhancing private sector participation in local economic projects, particularly in agriculture, industry, and tourism. Measures include facilitating investment in industrial areas, addressing issues in existing informal industrial zones, developing detailed plans for industrial zones, and promoting rural tourism. These initiatives build upon recent state efforts to modernize Egypt's rural villages and update the unified investment map, highlighting promising opportunities across sectors and regions. Furthermore, the ministry continues its institutional and structural reform journey to enhance citizens' quality of life. Collaborating with partner entities, it aims to combat corruption by improving local technological infrastructure, digitizing service delivery processes, enhancing oversight, and governing project planning and monitoring systems. The ministry also focuses on refining local leadership selection processes and providing training to enhance the skills of employees in local administrative units. Cooperation with relevant ministries, entities, and governorates aims to enforce market regulation and control prices. Awad pointed out that reforming the local financial system is a top priority for the Ministry of Local Development. This builds on past structural reforms carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance to enhance the ability of local units to maximize their resources and ensure budget independence at each local level. She expressed the ministry's readiness to continue coordination between the government and the House of Representatives to expedite the issuance of the new Local Administration Law and its executive regulations, clarifying the functions of different local levels. The goal is to work diligently to achieve the government's programme for fair and balanced local development and to cooperate constructively with all parties to achieve our shared goals, foremost among them citizen satisfaction.
