Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly has decided to allocate €13m from a grant by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) towards launching development projects for citizens living in slum areas, such as sanitation and housing projects, according to a Saturday statement. A national strategic plan was put by the Ministry of Housing to develop slums in cooperation with the relevant ministries. The plan will be attached to the sustainable development strategy for Egypt 2030. The strategy was developed by the Ministry of Planning and was announced in March 2015, said Madbouly. Madbouly also stressed on the completion of projects initiated by the Slums Development Fund before merging the Ministry of Urban Development and Slums with the Ministry of Housing in the new government. During his meeting with GIZ and officials of the Slums Development Fund Saturday, Madbouly said: "We are currently working on speed up the implementation of the projects." "We have put up a specific timetable for the development of all unsafe slums, as they would be fully developed in three years," added Madbouly. Moreover, the minister requested GIZ officials to put in place a programme to develop unsafe slums and speeding up the project's procedures and agreements. On their part, GIZ officials said that GIZ will do its best to improve slum areas through the loans given by the German Society. The officials also announced that European partners are willing to develop a larger number of slums.
