Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb oversaw the signing of a protocol that grants the Egyptian government more than 50,000 housing units for social housing, within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) developmental projects in Egypt. The protocol was signed by UAE Minister of State Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, the Chairman of the Coordination Office of UAE-funded Development Projects in Egypt, and Egyptian Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly. The 50,000 housing units project, to be built in 36 areas in 17 governorates, is within a group of developmental projects by the UAE in Egypt, which aim for the immediate improvement of services offered to citizens in the different governorates, especially the rural and remote areas. The housing projects aim is to ease challenges for the sector in Egypt through establishing units for more than 350,000 low income citizens. The housing units are set to provide living services, including mosques, shops, childcare centres, and entertainment facilities. It also contributes to traffic and all its related costs in Greater Cairo, amounting to approximately $50m annually. The project pumped EGP 1.5bn in the Egyptian economy and contributed to creating more than 220,000 job opportunities in the construction sector, as well as 10,000 permanent job opportunities. During the signing of the protocol, Mehleb expressed the Egyptian people's appreciation for the UAE, its leaders and its people. Mehleb stated that the Egyptian people will always remember UAE's support, whether through developmental projects that decrease the challenges of many sectors and achieve economic and social revenues that greatly contributed to the state's efforts in improving services in the main sectors, or UAE's efforts to support the economy and politics of Egypt. This contributed to Egypt's recovery and regained the trust of international institutions and organisations in the economy's power. UAE also exerted efforts to support the mission of the Economic Summit, Mehleb said. The prime minister added that the speed by which the social housing units project was established and delivered was a "miracle". This would not have happened if it were not for the cooperation persistence and hard work of UAE through its office in Egypt, he said. The Egyptian government received a number of developmental projects that the UAE started establishing in Egypt, including a solar energy station in the Siwa oasis, near the Libyan border. On this occasion, UAE Minister of State Al-Jaber sent his greetings to the Egyptian leaders, as well as the residents of the governorates in which the different Emirati projects were established. Al-Jaber expressed his appreciation for the perseverance of the workers in the project. He also praised the great support of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Armed Forces, saying: "UAE's leadership demanded that work be done quickly for all the developmental projects in Egypt so that they can be given to the Egyptian government to start offering services. This would help achieve its fundamental economic and social aims, which would benefit around 10 million Egyptians and provide more than 900,000 temporary and permanent job opportunities." Al-Jaber added: "We are pleased to be delivering the social housing units today as a start for the government and the Ministry of Housing, as well as the competent authorities, to distribute them to beneficiaries as per the regulations and mechanisms. We are certain that these units, which meet the quality standards in construction and finishing, will help in providing the adequate housing and limit the challenges facing the sector, especially as we made sure that the project's units are of direct benefit to 50,000 Egyptian families, and will decrease population density in the capital." The UAE has worked with Egypt to create a new phase of mutual cooperation through developmental projects. Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly said that the housing units established by the UAE will create a huge leap in providing housing units in 17 governorates, praising the quality of implementation and finishing of these units. Madbouly also pointed out that the ministry will offer new units for targeted citizens as per social housing laws and regulations, whereby units will be allocated by the ministry. He added that the project started in October 2013, and the armed forces supervised the implementation through an engineering entity, in cooperation with many companies and contractors in Egypt, which helped speed up the execution rates in all areas. According to the minister, the new housing units were established in urban social communities, where each building is five storeys high with a ground floor. Each storey has four apartments with an area of 90 sqm. Every apartment has three rooms, a living area, and a bathroom. While establishing these housing communities, it was taken into consideration that they include service places for each area, which would serve a limited number of citizens. Each area has service units, commercial shops, and bakeries.
