Ministry of Planning and Economic Development announces features of Citizen Investment Plan in Qena Governorate for the fiscal year 2020/21

The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development announced the features of the Citizen Investment Plan in Qena Governorate for the fiscal year 2020/21 as part of the continuation of announcing the plan in all governorates of the Republic for the second year in a row to activate community participation and involve citizens in planning and follow-up.Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, affirmed that the sustainable development plan for the fiscal year 2020/21 attaches great importance to the development of the governorates of Upper Egypt, intending to bring about real, tangible, and rapid development, which is reflected in improving the quality of life and providing decent living opportunities. She followed up that the spatial dimension is one of the main determinants of achieving comprehensive and sustainable development in a way that ensures achieving balanced growth between the various regions of the Republic and the governorates, pointing to the development plan’s interest in the potential policies and programs aimed at achieving convergence in living standards and entry between regions by addressing development gaps and advancing development efforts in line with the components, characteristics, and priorities of each region.El-Said indicated that the potential development efforts focus on three things, namely giving advanced priority to the development of Upper Egypt governorates within the framework of a coherent and integrated development program, in addition to focusing on the rural areas most in need to narrow the internal gap and reduce the streams of migration to urban areas, in addition to giving priority to a strong development push for promising areas to exploit existing opportunities and provide more job opportunities for youth.Regarding the Citizen Investment Plan in Qena Governorate, El-Said explained that the number of development projects in the governorate reaches 323 projects and that the value of public investments directed to Qena Governorate in the 2020/21 plan is LE 6.6 billion, an increase of 59% over the plan in 2019/20, representing 25% of the public investments distributed, pointing to the 25% increase in the investments financed by the public treasury and directed to Qena Governorate.About the sectoral distribution of public investments targeted in Qena Governorate in the 2020/21 plan, El-Said indicated that investments worth LE 2.7 billion will be directed to the housing sector and slum development by 41%, and the local development sector is allocated LE 1.3 billion at a rate of 19.7%, in addition to directing LE 650.5 million to the higher education sector at a rate of 10%, and the pre-university education sector allocates investments worth LE 507.6 million at 7.7%, as well as directing LE 275.4 million to the irrigation sector at 4.2%, in addition to directing LE 1.1 billion for other sectors at a rate of 17.4%.The report of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development stated that the most important development goals in the housing sector in Qena Governorate in the 2020/21 plan are to direct about LE 1.8 billion for drinking water and sanitation services. The pre-university education sector will witness the establishment of 113 schools with a total of 1,631 classes, while the most important development targets are in the irrigation sector are in rehabilitating and lining waterways of length 40 km.Regarding local development programs in Qena Governorate, the report explained that they are represented in the local economic development program, the urban and rural development program, the cost-effective environmental improvement program, the local administration and technical support program, and the roads and transportation program.The report of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development pointed out the features of the Decent Life Initiative in Qena Governorate, as the volume of the initiative’s investments in the governorate amounts to LE 1.7 billion, while the number of beneficiary villages is 32 villages and the number of beneficiaries is 494,000 citizens.