Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development, said on Monday that governorate investments have increased by 410% since 2015, stressing that the growth was not random. This statement came during a workshop held by the ministry to discuss the principles of preparing a proposal for the next fiscal year 2022/2023: Curricula and Tools Developed for Local Planning. Kamali said that the workshop includes a review of the investment plan and the services provided by the ministry to facilitate the process of following up on projects. He noted that there will be follow-up screens and the accreditation will become linked to follow-up. This means that follow-up reports are required to be submitted in order for each agency to obtain its own accreditation. This is consistent with the Uniform Planning Act discussed in the House of Representatives. Kamali also touched on the localization of the sustainable development goals, explaining that the idea of localizing them began about three years ago. It started in four governorates, to be generalized at the governorate level due to the importance of localization. He added that sustainable development localization reports have been across 27 governorates in cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund. He stressed that the localization report is very simplified and addresses the main data of each governorate. It also reviews the UN sustainable development goals and their indicators, and the level of performance of each governorate. He noted that the 17 goals include indicators for each goal at the state level, explaining that each country has measurement indicators and Egypt has its own targets. "A discrepancy has been observed between Egyptian governorates, and it is essential to look at indicators at the governorate level, not just the state," he said. Kamali said that the governorates competitiveness index will be launched next year. It is a special indicator for each governorate to calculate competitiveness. It will create positive competition among all governorates, and will make the situation of each governorate clear in terms of competition. He stressed that the per capita investment has witnessed a great leap during the past three years, especially in Upper Egypt, in addition to what the governorates are witnessing within the "Decent Life" initiative. He added that training has been held for all support agencies to prepare development feasibility studies, which take into account the three dimensions of sustainable development. Heba Moghaieb, Head of Regional Planning Sector at the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, said that through the practice carried out in the past two years and the applications and updates made in policies and systems, some principles should be agreed upon in preparing the plan. These principles include commitment to the approved plan programs and defining the geographical locations of each project. A requirement for entering project proposals will be locating them on the map, while benefiting from the funding allocated to implementing major development projects that create a qualitative leap for the governorate.
