Egypt Expresses Readiness to Put Expertise into Africa's Construction Boom 

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly affirmed Egypt's full readiness to put its expertise in the construction boom and infrastructure to serve African cities.

This came during his meeting with the delegation of the Organization of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG) on Thursday.

Madbouly said that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, after assuming the presidency in 2014, laid down a clear plan to bring about development for Egypt in all fields, and paid special attention to infrastructure, realizing that infrastructure is the basis of development.

Among the attendees were UCLG President, Mohamed Boudra, Secretary General of UCLG Africa Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, Kenyan Ministry of Devolution and ASALs Eugene Wamalwa, President of the African Elected Local Women Network Makura Dau Coulibaly.

Egypt has constructed a giant road network, new axes, bridges, new Suez Canal, including tunnels, as well as the rehabilitation of slums, and other dozens of projects and new cities, are examples of a precedent shift in Egypt," he added.

The Prime Minister explained that Egypt is currently witnessing the establishment of 20 new cities and the development of old cities, foremost of which is the city of Cairo, which is witnessing a real boom in development, in addition to the construction of a road network that exceeded 7,000 km of high-quality roads, which contributed to raising the index of high-quality roads to the 19th spot.

He welcomed that the Egyptian model in urban development will be the subject of an extensive discussion in the second edition of the “African Cities: Locomotive of Sustainable Development” conference, expressing his confidence that the delegation members’ tour will take place tomorrow to visit some architectural, urban and development projects, which will indeed pave the way for a vision of what African cities need.

Madbouly expressed Egypt's full support for the Kenyan city of Kisumu hosting the next session of the African Cities Summit, as well as welcoming Egypt's hosting of the next session.

He pointed to his participation in the opening of the first forum of the heads of investment bodies in Africa, which Egypt hosted in Sharm El-Sheikh a few days ago, and Cairo's hosting of the meetings of the Fifth Conference of the Supreme Constitutional Courts in Africa, which is organized annually by the Egyptian Constitutional Court with the aim of strengthening our capabilities to achieve justice, and support security and stability of our societies.

It is worth noting that the meeting witnessed the presence of Mahmoud Shaarawy, Minister of Local Development, and Khaled Abdel Aal, Governor of Cairo, on the occasion of the signing of an agreement between Egypt and UCLGA organization, regarding the establishment of the headquarters of the organization's Regional Office for North Africa in Cairo.