The Ministry of Planning has approved EGP 30m as the first stage in implementing an axis road which will be located on the Assiut Plateau, state television announced Saturday. The axis will connect the western and eastern desert road of Upper Egypt. The axis road will be approximately 22kms long and is expected to eventually cost around EGP 300m, Assiut Governor Ibrahim Hamad said. Hamad added that the completion of the axis will be carried out during the next fiscal year. The governorate's urban development authority will issue a bidding offer to a consultation companion, who will be requested to conduct the implementation studies during the current year. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) reallocated 3,747 feddans to be used by the governorate in building urban communities on the sides of the axis road. In February, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) allocated $220m to finance a thermal power plant in Assiut. This comes as a part of a nearly $705m initiative to fund projects focusing on infrastructure, human development and education in "Muslim communities". In January, then Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Bahaa El-Din inaugurated a plastics factory in the Safa industrial region of Assiut, one of the largest growing industrial regions in Upper Egypt. Bahaa El-Din also inaugurated a new Juhayna factory in the Arab Al-Awamer industrial area in Assiut on the same day. Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour said that visiting Assiut was part of a governmental initiative to improve industrial development in Upper Egypt. The initiative aims to increase employment and attract investment into the region.
