Planning Minister Highlights Transport Sector Goals for 2024/2025: Road Safety and Sustainable Transportation

During the discussion of the Economic and Social Development Plan for the year 2025, the Committee on Financial and Economic Affairs and Investment of the Senate convened. H.E.Dr. Hala El Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, highlighted the goals of the transportation and transit sector, focusing on "safe and sustainable transportation systems." This was part of the deliberation on the draft law of the Economic and Social Development Plan for the fiscal year 2024/2025 during the meeting of the Committee on Financial and Economic Affairs and Investment of the Senate, chaired by Hani Ser El-Din, in the presence of Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development, and with the participation of the honorable members of the Council.

Dr. Hala El Said emphasized that the infrastructure, transportation, and transit sector witnessed a strong momentum in the coming years, contributing to the improvement of performance and approaching the achievement of the 2030 targets in the objective of safe transportation systems. Regarding the specific targets of the 2025/2024 fiscal plan in the sector, El Said pointed out that they include directing investments to reduce road accidents, especially in areas with high rates of road fatalities in the priority provinces, including Dakahlia, Sharqia, Assiut, and Alexandria.

She added that among the specifics are incentives for population localization and improving connectivity indicators, where 40% of the total lengths of roads targeted are represented in the New Valley, Matrouh, South Sinai, and North Sinai. Additionally, priority is given to Upper Egypt's provinces, representing 30% of the total lengths of roads targeted in those provinces.

El Said emphasized that development is not limited to urban areas, noting that attention is also focused on border and remote provinces with low population density. Efforts are directed towards road paving projects in those provinces to achieve balanced spatial development, such as in Matrouh, the New Valley, and South Sinai. The lengths of roads currently being implemented reach 6,800 km, with 45% completed, while the targeted lengths of roads are 1,200 km.

She further explained that the efforts in road paving have led to an improvement in road accident indicators, with a 33% reduction in road accidents between 2018 and 2022. Regarding the key targets of the transportation sector in the 2025/24 plan, Dr. Hala El Said highlighted several projects, including national and strategic road networks with eight projects, interprovincial roads with nine projects, and Nile axes with eight projects.

In addition to national roads projects, eight projects are targeted for completion, including the Farouk Team/ Kamal Amer axis, the Amr ibn al-Aas axis, and the doubling of the Matrouh/Siwa road for 300 km in the second phase, as well as the expansion of the Corniche road for 4.4 km from the park to the Naval Forces Hotel (Mahrousa) in Alexandria.