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Ministry of Local Development funds 6,500 projects through ‘Mashroak’ programme
Manal Awad, the Minister of Local Development, has outlined the government’s new action plan from 2024/25 to 2026/27. The ministry aims to strengthen the economy and support small and micro-enterprises by financing over 6,500 projects through the “Mashroak” programme, in collaboration with six banks.
In addition, more than 5,700 projects will be funded by the Ministry’s Local Development Fund. These initiatives are expected to create more than 500,000 job opportunities across all provinces and strengthen 90 artisanal and agricultural clusters in underserved areas, in cooperation with the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency.
During a special committee meeting convened by the House of Representatives to discuss the government’s action plan, Minister Awad emphasized the implementation of provisions related to executive authority as per the 2014 Egyptian Constitution. This includes promoting administrative, financial and economic decentralization, empowering local administrative units and transferring certain authorities and budgets to them. The national roadmap for the development and decentralization of local administration will be discussed with the Local Administration Committee and other relevant committees.
To ensure effective decentralization, Minister Awad emphasized the importance of specific and time-bound procedures. These efforts are in line with constitutional provisions and recommendations from the initial phase of the national dialogue.
The Ministry of Local Development is committed to supporting other ministries in creating a competitive and attractive local economy for investment. This involves increasing private sector participation in local economic projects, particularly in agriculture, industry and tourism. Measures include facilitating investment in industrial areas, addressing problems in existing informal industrial zones, developing detailed plans for industrial zones and promoting rural tourism. These initiatives build on recent state efforts to modernize Egypt’s rural villages and update the unified investment map, highlighting promising opportunities across sectors and regions.
In addition, the ministry continues its journey of institutional and structural reform to improve the quality of life of citizens. Collaborating with partner entities, it aims to combat corruption by improving local technological infrastructure, digitizing service delivery processes, enhancing supervision, and governing project planning and monitoring systems. The ministry also focuses on refining local leadership selection processes and providing training to enhance the skills of officials in local administrative units. Cooperation with relevant ministries, entities, and governments aims to enforce market regulation and control prices.
Awad stressed that reforming the local financial system is a top priority for the Ministry of Local Development. This builds on previous structural reforms carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance to enhance the capacity of local units to maximize their resources and ensure budgetary independence at each local level. She expressed the ministry’s readiness to continue coordination between the government and the House of Representatives to expedite the issuance of the new Local Government Law and its executive regulations, clarifying the functions of different local levels. The aim is to work diligently to achieve the government’s program for fair and balanced local development and to cooperate constructively with all parties to achieve our shared goals, especially citizen satisfaction.