By Ashraf Sadek CAIRO, Aug 14, 2018 – Prime Minister Dr Moustafa Madbouli on Tuesday instructed the ministries concerned to remove any administrative or financial obstacles to the progress and completion of work on some development projects, according to their schedules and action plans. Addressing the weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Madbouli, who also doubles as the Housing Minister, said that completing the projects, which he did not specify, as soon as possible, would help improve the quality of the services being offered to the public. "In addition, completing these projects on time will have a positive impact on attracting investments and improving the country's overall investment climate," Madbouli told the ministers. He said it was important to complete construction of the Provincial Ring Road as soon as possible. Prime Minister Madbouli also decreed that lorries would be banned from using the Ring Road during the daytime and would only be allowed to use the vital motorway between midnight and 6:00am. He instructed the ministers of the Interior, Transport and Local Development to strictly enforce the ban during the hours specified in the decree. Other items on the meeting's agenda included the efforts of the government to make basic food items, especially meat, available to the public at affordable prices ahead of the four-day Eid el-Adha (the feast of sacrifice), which Egypt's Muslims will celebrate next Tuesday. Prime Minister Madbouli gave directives to the ministers concerned to increase the number of fixed and mobile outlets that sold subsidised basic food commodities nationwide, closely monitor market prices, and swiftly deal with any shortage that might occur, of any commodity. The Minister of Transport, Hisham Arafat, announced that his ministry had decided to increase the number of trains and underground Metro stocks during the feast days, since they are usually in extremely high demand by the people who want to spend Eid al-Adha with their families in the governorates, or to visit them in the remote neighbourhoods of Cairo. The meeting reviewed the on-going preparations for President Abdel Fattah El Sisi's state visit to China, where he will represent Egypt at the Forum On China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) Summit that will be held in Beijing next month. The meeting also reviewed a set of reports on the progress of the measures taken to develop the health and education sectors, and on the government's efforts to improve the living standards of people with a limited income. All the reports showed that the measures were progressing well. The meeting also reviewed the overall security situation and the latest developments pertaining to the fight against terrorism. Prime Minister Madbouli expressed the government's profound gratitude to the police force for preserving national security and thwarting an attack by a terrorist on a Cairo church last Saturday. Later in the day, Prime Minister Madbouli chaired a meeting that reviewed a plan for setting up logistical service centres in the 27 governorates.
