H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, Presents the 2025/2026 Economic and Social Development Plan to the Egyptian Parliament

 25 billion EGP allocated for the implementation of Phase II of the "Decent Life" project in water supply and sanitation in the upcoming fiscal year.

28 billion EGP allocated for local development investments in the 2025/2026 plan, with approximately 35% of total investments directed toward Upper Egypt.

55% of the total investments in the 2025/2026 development plan will be directed to green projects.

The new fiscal year plan focuses on intensive development efforts for comprehensive economic and social progress in North and South Sinai.

The government is placing increasing emphasis on the localization of sustainable development goals (SDGs) to support inclusive growth and balanced regional development.

Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, presented the efforts and targets for promoting spatial, local, and rural development, environmental improvement, and the transition to a green economy in the draft economic and social development plan for FY 2025/2026, as part of the medium-term plan (2025/2026 – 2028/2029), during the General Session of the House of Representatives held today, chaired by Chancellor Dr. Hanafy Gebaly, Speaker of the House, and attended by members of parliament.

 

During her speech, Dr. Al-Mashat emphasized that with regards to enhancing spatial and local development, the plan is keen on allocating the necessary financial resources to improve services for citizens across various governorates. It also adheres to applying indicators that reflect developmental gaps, ensuring equitable distribution of investments across governorates. Public investments allocated to local development amount to EGP 28 billion in FY 2025/2026, with EGP 24.3 billion allocated to governorates, and the remainder to the Ministry of Local Development’s general office. Investment distribution across local development programs is planned as follows: 56% for local roads, transportation, and mobility; 11% each for enhancing local and community services, and local administration and technical support programs; 8% each for environmental improvement and rural/urban development programs; and 6% for local economic development.

 

Local development projects include paving 1,525 internal roads, lighting 750 streets, constructing and upgrading six public transportation hubs, developing 64 markets and exhibitions, continuing the construction and development of 30 slaughterhouses, and implementing the 100 Million Trees initiative, in addition to solid waste management and major renovation projects. Regional investment allocation ensures that approximately 35% of total local development investments are directed to Upper Egypt governorates to reduce developmental disparities.

 

To incentivize governorates to improve performance levels, the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation continues implementing the “Performance Excellence Incentives Initiative” for local-level investment management, awarding governorates that apply best international practices in planning, monitoring, and performance evaluation. In FY 2024/2025, eight governorates won awards totaling EGP 300 million.

 

The plan also aims to intensify development efforts for comprehensive economic and social growth in North and South Sinai, with 15% of local investments allocated to these two governorates for implementing several projects, including the establishment of 18 agricultural and development clusters, construction of irrigation networks for reclaimed lands, and road expansions, including five major road development projects in South Sinai such as the upgrading of the Dahab/Nuweiba road (50 km), Sharm El Sheikh/Dahab (80 km), Nuweiba/Naqb (60 km), and the first phase of the Tunnel/Taba road (26 km).

 

Dr. Al-Mashat affirmed that the Egyptian state is increasingly prioritizing localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) due to their impact in supporting inclusive and sustainable growth, and balanced regional development—key pillars of Egypt’s Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt Vision 2030. The state continues its collaboration with development partners to formulate and implement evidence-based policies for achieving the SDGs at the local level.

 

To this end, the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, in collaboration with the United Nations, released two editions of the “Localizing the SDGs at the Governorate Level” reports in 2021 and 2025. These reports aim to provide an overview of each governorate’s performance in achieving the SDGs, and to use the data strategically to highlight areas requiring more attention, design suitable policies and programs to enhance local performance, accelerate SDG implementation, and enable performance comparison and ranking among governorates.

 

In rural development, Dr. Al-Mashat highlighted that the 2025/2026 plan seeks to continue implementing Phase II of the “Decent Life” initiative. This phase spans 20 governorates, encompassing 52 centers and a total of 1,667 villages, home to 21.3 million people. The plan targets EGP 25 billion to initiate implementation of Phase II goals in drinking water and sanitation, aiming to raise wastewater coverage to at least 90% in these villages through 698 integrated wastewater projects, 97 treatment plants with a combined capacity of one million cubic meters per day, and 1.8 million household wastewater connections.

 

The plan also targets full coverage in drinking water services by establishing and upgrading 18 water stations, expanding and reinforcing 2,350 km of water networks, and delivering 315,000 household water connections.

 

In the area of environmental improvement and green economy transition, Dr. Al-Mashat said the ministry is enhancing green investments and supporting sustainable infrastructure as part of the state's broader green economy shift. This is being realized by continuing to integrate environmental dimensions into planning through the implementation of the “Environmental Sustainability Standards Guide.”

 

Under these standards, the share of green investment projects in the FY 2025/2026 investment plan is targeted to reach approximately 55% of total public investments, up from 50% in the current fiscal year (2024/2025), and from 15% in FY 2020/2021. The upcoming plan directs investments toward climate change mitigation projects such as smart and green transport, renewable energy, solid waste management systems, and afforestation projects.

 

The plan also includes climate change adaptation projects such as the rehabilitation and upgrading of drinking water stations and networks, desalination plants, and wastewater treatment plants, as well as desertification control, soil improvement in old agricultural lands, natural reserve management, development of water resources using groundwater and rainwater harvesting, and upgrading irrigation channels to modern systems. Coastal and shoreline protection and development are also featured.

 

She added that the plan aims to continue implementing a set of initiatives supporting the green transition, including the "Green Labeling of Public Investments" initiative. This involves tracking and measuring investments directed towards green projects listed in the investment plan, as part of the integrated system for preparing and monitoring the investment plan. The system includes the classification of 160 areas into projects targeting climate change adaptation and projects focused on mitigation. It also involves assessing climate change risks, with the goal of activating interactive maps showing the risks, threats, and anticipated impacts of climate change across various sectors and regions. The initiative also includes establishing an early warning system, preparing risk assessment plans for threatened areas, and managing climate-related disasters.

 

She also highlighted the Climate Technology Competition, which aims to encourage startups, entrepreneurs, innovators, and specialists to contribute ideas and innovative solutions to address climate change and its negative impacts on development efforts. Additionally, she referred to the National Initiative for Smart Green Projects, which aims to create a governorate-level map of green and smart projects and connect them with funding entities, both domestic and international, to attract the necessary investments.

 

She pointed to the "Green Village" initiative, which aims to prepare villages under the “Decent Life” (Hayah Karima) program to align with the latest global environmental standards set by the World Green Building Council, and to obtain the “Tarsheed” certification for green rural communities. The initiative focuses on three main pillars: energy, water, and resources. Four villages have already received the certification: El-Liwaa Sobeh village in New Valley Governorate (2024), Shamma village in Menoufia (2024), Nahtai village in Gharbia (2023), Fares village in Aswan (2022). The goal is to qualify the remaining villages in the coming phase.