By the Gazette Editorial Board As Egypt drive to spread socio-economic development across the land of Egypt is proceeding in full gear, the concept of remote and distant areas is virtually vanishing. No longer can any part of Egypt be considered remote in terms of the reach of the state developmental drive however distant from the country's political capital and main urban centres any such part may be, and also no matter how thinly or densely-populated it happens to be. Showcasing this firmly growing trend in national action is the scene of development-oriented activities in the New Valley, a thinly populated governorate of a little more than 200,000 inhabitants and with one of its three oases, Farafrah, located more than one thousand kilometres far from Cairo. A few days ago, the New Valley Governor, Major-General Mohamed al-Zamlout, unveiled that the first three months of this year witnessed marked appeal by the governorate's young people on benefiting from the opportunities offered by the provincial administration to launch small enterprises, with 962 such ventures going operational during that period and involving the creation of 1,772 new job opportunities in such diverse activities as metal and wood works, food processing, grocery trading, household appliance maintenance and the provision of construction materials. The figures and the diversity of the activities are highly significant. In addition to evidencing the efficiency of the state-level planning to encourage the spread of small and medium-scale enterprises, they establish it firm that distance is no longer factoring in the realisation of socio-economic development. One day after Governor Zamlout's announcement, news reports from Kharga, the governorate's capital, had it that the Governor had decreed that state-owned lands which had remained unused for three years be re-allotted for the implementation of service and development-oriented ventures. The move clearly pointed to the comprehensive character of the drive to spread development at both national and provincial levels. And just one week before Governor Zamlout presented the progress and pace of the spread of small enterprises, a senior Agriculture Ministry official had revealed that 10 solar-powered irrigation wells had been readied to go operational in an area north of the New Valley's capital of Khargah and that many more such wells are envisaged for other areas of the governorate with a view to expanding the governorate's developmental range. In between those two announcements, Governor Zamlout and Agriculture Minister Dr Abdel-Moneim el-Banna met in Cairo for an examination of ways to raise the governorate's livestock and poultry production especially through offering facilities to investors and support to breeders. As so noted by the agriculture minister, efforts to boost livestock and poultry production, including the private sector's capacity, reflect the keenness of the state on consolidating all channels and means of development in all sectors.
