The Minister of Planning and Economic Development before the House of Representatives: The draft law on general planning for the state sets principles for achieving constitutional benefits and keeping pace with developments in planning sciences

Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, attended on Tuesday the Parliament’s discussion of the draft law on general planning for the state, where El-Said reviewed the most important features of the new draft law, the state’s efforts to develop the planning system in general, and the steps taken by the project.

El-Said said that the new law sets out a set of planning principles that mainly reflect the constitutional entitlements that the 2014 constitution and the developments in planning science and successful practices, including the idea of ​​sustainability, preserving state resources for future generations, the issue of flexibility, diversity, balanced development, participation and openness to society, encouraging innovation.

El-Said added that the draft law defines a set of planning documents at the national, regional, and local levels, clarifying the integrative relationship between central planning and urban planning, and factors emphasizing the importance of spatial development, which represents a pivotal issue.

She also referred to the establishment of a Higher Council for Planning and Sustainable Development headed by the President of the Republic, in which the long and medium-term visions of the Egyptian state are set, adding that the law works to strengthen the follow-up process, as the law obliges the authorities to submit reports for periodic follow-up that all parties abide by.

 She added that the law also works to promote the idea of ​​decentralization, financial decentralization, whereby the law is given a degree of decentralization and flexibility necessary to implement plans.



El-Said added that the project attached great importance to the reasons for the failure of projects financed by the public treasury, and stressed that no projects should be included without ensuring the availability of the necessary lands for their implementation and that they were free from any judicial disputes, as well as emphasizing the necessity of compatibility and integration of foreign-funded projects with the economic and social development plans of the state.

El-Said added that the draft law specified the detailed planning methodology for preparing plans at the national, regional, and local levels, while clearly defining the roles played by all relevant parties.

El-Said added that the law also granted the necessary flexibility to ministries, agencies, and local administration units for financial transfers between investment projects, to speed up their completion and increase the efficiency of public spending, following the controls in which the project was referred to the executive regulations.

El-Said pointed out that among what distinguishes the draft law is that the process of preparing it came in coordination with the ministries and all concerned parties, foremost of which is the Ministry of Local Development, where a committee was formed to coordinate between the ministries of planning and local development to ensure consistency and coherence between the local administration law and the general planning law.

On the state’s efforts to develop the planning system in general, El-Said pointed out that the work on issuing the state’s general planning law is paralleled by the state’s quest and unremitting efforts for comprehensive development of the development planning system in Egypt, led by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development in coordination with all ministries and relevant authorities.

El-Said continued the discussion about the principles that underpin the process of developing the planning system, pointing to the bottom-up planning, which contributes to the accurate identification of citizens' needs.


 She explained that one of the most prominent examples of this is what is being implemented in the implementation of the” Decent Life “initiative by distributing forms to collect data in preparation for identifying projects, as well as evidence-based planning, whether by linking the planning process to databases such as the births and deaths database, as well as monitoring development gaps in villages and governorates, and directing investments to address these gaps and imbalances.

 El-Said added that this aims to emphasize the principles of strategic planning, evaluation, follow-up, and control, as the Ministry of Planning came at the forefront of the ministries that established a strategic planning unit based on balancing programs and performance.

El-Said also discussed the governance of the planning process, whether for the entities or for the programs and projects being implemented, by ensuring consistency in the efforts made to implement these programs, whether by the government, the private sector, or civil society, and to maximize the benefit of all efforts, as is the case in implementing a decent life initiative.


El-Said touched on the government performance follow-up system "Adaa", explaining that it represents an electronic system based on the methodology of the programs and performance plan, which includes unified models, methodologies, and tools that are binding on all government agencies.
El-Said noted that the system aims to improve the quality of the performance of the government apparatus and ensure progress in implementing the ambitious goals of the state.