CAIRO, August 16, 2018 - The government will launch a LE13 billion development plan for five southern governorates during the fiscal year (FY) 2018/19, the Planning, Follow-up, and Administrative Development Minister Hala el-Saeed said on Thursday. Minister el-Saeed said that the government had earmarked LE2.24 billion of the plan's total proceeds to implement development projects in the Red Sea Governorate; including the drinking water and water sanitation sectors. At a meeting with Red Sea Governor Major General Ahmed Abdel Allah, el-Saeed said that the projects included completing the building and equipping of a water desalination plant in Hurghada and setting up three similar facilities in Zaafrana, Ras Ghareb, and Safaga. The plan had also incorporated launching a set of sewage and road building projects at a total cost of LE117 million, Minister el-Saeed said. She added that there were many plots of land that could be used for launching more than 26 tourism ventures during FY2018/19. These plots have a total area of 34.2 million square metres that can be used by investors for their tourism projects, she said, adding that the government was mulling a plan for building a new resort that would be located between the town of Hurghada and Safaga. About 507,000 tourists visited the governorate in July, Governor Abdel Allah told Minister el-Saeed, who announced that she would visit the governorate next month. She said that she would also visit the governorate's Shalateen region. In another development, Minister el-Saeed said that unemployment rate fell to 9.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2018, down from 11.98 per cent during the same period a year ago. The rate has been falling steadily in recent months amid a programme of economic reforms, she said.
