The Egyptian cabinet approved on 27 November an EGP 764.2m development plan in the Southern Red Sea area of Berenice, namely the triangle of Halayeb, Shalateen and Abu Ramad. Minister of Planning Ashraf Al-Araby said that this plan will help attract new investments to the area and create a good business climate in the private and public sectors. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Planning on 1 December, the amount for the development plan is divided among several projects. The development of the land infrastructure is said to require EGP 348m of the budget for the project. Two new water desalination treatment facilities will be built, one in Halayeb and the other in Shalateen. EGP 154m will be used for building water systems and setting up new water storage tanks. Around EGP 41m will be used to develop water wells, greenhouses, fish farms and fishing ports. The budget for the development of hospitals constitutes EGP 13m. The amount will be used to rehabilitate the Shalateen hospital and health units in the area. EGP 84m will be allocated for building new housing projects, 450 residential units and 18 buildings, which will be used as student hostels. EGP 22m will be spent on building new electricity generating facilities and EGP 24 m will be used to build plastic, leather, ice and other industry related factories. The development plan also allocated EGP 27m for educational projects, which will include building 10 new schools and four learning institutes for Al-Azhar University. An automatic bakery, supply complexes and fish vending outlets will be built with EGP 7.5m. The ministerial statement added that EGP 18m will be used to strengthen radio and television broadcasting systems and build new cultural and media centres. EGP 16m will be used to build youth centres and renovate 10 mosques, while EGP 2.6m will be used to build social centres and vocational training institutes. Al-Araby stated that the time frame to implement the projects in the development plan is approximately a year, where all the projects are expected to be finalised by the end of 2014. He added that the development plan comes as part of the government's initiative to lessen the burden on the citizens and form a foundation for social justice.
