Ministry of Planning and Economic Development discusses the "Green Village" initiative with Aswan Governorate and ECOnsult
17 September 2022
The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, represented by Dr. Jamil Helmy, Assistant Minister for Sustainable Development Plan Follow-up Affairs, held a coordination meeting via video conference technology, with Dr. Ahmed Shaaban, Deputy Governor of Aswan, and Engineer Sarah El-Batouty, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ECOnsult for Engineering and Environmental Consultations.
The meeting sought to discuss the development interventions to be implemented in the village of "Fares" in the Kom Ombo center after it was chosen as a model for the green village.
H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, expressed the government's keenness to enhance cooperation and partnership with private sector institutions and civil society, to benefit from their expertise in the field of environmental sustainability, and to transform the villages of the presidential initiative "Decent Life" into sustainable rural communities.
El-Said pointed out that the "Fares" village is intended to be the first sustainable and green village in Egypt, and it will be presented as a model at the United Nations Climate Summit, as well as a pioneering experience in cooperation between the government and the private sector represented by "ECOnsult".
On his part, Dr. Jamil Helmy, Assistant Minister for Follow-up Affairs of the Sustainable Development Plan, said that the meeting discussed the current development situation in the village of Fares, the projects to be implemented in the village to complete the standards of the green village, and project implementation mechanisms.
Helmy explained that those criteria included the availability of sewage plants with triple treatment, solar plants, biogas units, lining, and rehabilitation of canals.
Helmy pointed out that based on those criteria, some villages that are currently witnessing an intense implementation of projects related to the mentioned criteria were selected, with Fares village receiving the highest evaluation rate among 1,500 villages.
Helmy explained that the past period witnessed intense cooperation with the Aswan Governorate, the "ECOnsult" company, and the "Decent Life" Foundation, to monitor the current development indicators in the village, and the standards to be implemented to make it a model for the green village, within the framework of implementing the standards of the International Council on Green Buildings.
The meeting was attended by Eng. Ahmed Al-Sharif, an official at ECOnsult, and Mohamed Sherif Al-Hely, coordinator of the “Dignified Life” initiative at the Ministry of Planning.
It is worth noting that the coordination meeting came within the framework of Egypt's preparations to host the United Nations Climate Summit, Cop 27, to be held next November, and preparations to present several initiatives related to climate change, including the "Green Village" within the national project for the development of the Egyptian countryside, "Green Village Initiative" "Decent life for Africa".