Egypt's Upper Egypt undergoes a historic development surge as government allocates billions for its advancement.
Upper Egypt is experiencing a significant developmental surge unprecedented in its history, with the Egyptian government allocating billions of pounds towards its advancement in recent years.
A report from the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development emphasizes the necessity of addressing developmental disparities among governorates and directing additional resources to the most underserved regions to mitigate these gaps. Spatial social justice is a key target of the Egyptian government's agenda.
The report underscores the development plan's focus on prioritizing the regions of Upper Egypt, utilizing a financial equation to guide investments based on developmental gaps indicators. Simultaneously, the plan aims to catalyze transformation in specific governorates that previously lacked adequate attention, maximizing the utilization of their resources and developmental potential.
The 2023/2024 plan directed governmental investments amounting to approximately EGP 71.4 billion towards the development of Upper Egypt. The report highlights that the plan allocates the largest proportion (50.3%) of governmental investments to South Upper Egypt, totaling EGP 35.9 billion, followed by Central Upper Egypt at 34.9% with EGP 24.9 billion. Meanwhile, governmental investments for North Upper Egypt constitute the remaining proportion (14.8%) at around EGP 10.6 billion.
Regarding investments directed to South Upper Egypt in the 2023/2024 plan, Aswan Governorate claims the largest share (34.2%), followed by Luxor Governorate at (21.4%), then Sohag Governorate (18.3%), and the Red Sea and Qena Governorates at (14.7%) and (11.4%) respectively. Transportation and storage sector holds the largest share (21.3%), followed by agriculture, land reclamation, and other services sectors at 20.5% each, then educational and healthcare services sectors at 9.7% and 8.4% respectively.
In terms of investments directed to North Upper Egypt, the report clarifies that Minya Governorate leads with the highest proportion (43.4%) of governmental investments, totaling EGP 4.6 billion, followed by Beni Suef Governorate at 34.9%, and then Fayoum Governorate at 21.7%. These investments are distributed across sectors, with other services sector claiming the largest share at approximately 35%, followed by education sector at 18.6%, and healthcare sector at 17%.
