Govt, businessmen revive Upper Egypt development plans

[DJKeefy]

Egypt's interim govt, businessmen revive Upper Egypt development plans.

A Cairo conference considers public-private partnerships to develop Upper Egypt, home to 80 percent of Egyptians living in extreme poverty.


Egypt’s private sector launched an initiative last week to cooperate with the government in developing needy Upper Egypt governorates in a conference which saw the participation of businessmen and state ministers.

Development in Upper Egypt is achievable only through public-private partnership, said Mohamed Farid, head of the Federation of Egypt Investors.

In praise of the initiative, Ashraf El-Araby, minister of planning, welcomed private sector contributions while emphasising that development in Upper Egypt is a mission the government cannot embark on alone.

"We, the same working teams who worked together before the revolution, are preparing a development plan for 2015-2030," added El-Araby.

"The right path for developing Upper Egypt is that which was paved by Mahmoud Mohie Eddin (Egypt's former minister of investment who served under deposed president Hosni Mubarak)," said Sohag governor Mahmoud Othman.

Within that framework state ministers proposed building public housing and developing infrastructure, as well as training labour for private sector requirements.

Participants in the conference from the private sector proposed other projects, including establishing a holding company for Upper Egypt, and expanding industrial zones. They asked the government to provide them with land and to prepare the necessary infrastructure.

"I am inviting you to participate in developing Upper Egypt before we demand separation," Ashraf El-Thaalaby, the secretary of unregistered group the Upper Egyptians Party told the audience.

El-Thaalaby was invited to speak at the conference by the governor of Sohag to convey the problems faced by young Egyptians in the long neglected Upper Egypt region.

"Development in Upper Egypt is urgently needed. I am warning that if Upper Egypt does not get soon the attention it desperately needs from the state we could be seeing the Sudanese scenario," said El-Thaalaby in reference to the 2011 secession of South Sudan.

Adel Labib, minister of local development, responded with contention, arguing that Upper Egypt is not as neglected as the young journalist claimed and that such talk opens up space for a bidding war on participants' patriotism.


The crisis

Roughly 25 million Egyptians reside in Upper Egypt, accounting for almost 40 percent of the population, according to January 2013 statistics from state-owned statistics agency CAPMAS.

Upper Egypt is home to 80 percent of Egyptians living in severe poverty, according to a report issued by the World Bank.

More than half of Upper Egypt residents living in rural areas are poor, while the two poorest governorates in Egypt are located there — Assiut and Qena, with poverty rates at 60 and 58 percent of residents respectively, says CAPMAS.

In fact, even as poverty declined in the period from 1995 to 2000 by 14 percent on the national level, rural Upper Egypt actually saw an increase in poverty rates by 17 percent, according to UNICEF.

One of many ramifications is the spread of chronic malnutrition among young children. Illiteracy in Upper Egypt is also higher than the national average, sitting at 17 percent, shows the World Bank report.

Almost half of youth in Upper Egypt are jobless, neither employed nor seeking work, while official youth unemployment (those actively seeking work) is at 16 percent.

The report also showed that government jobs remain the only socially acceptable form of employment, especially for women.

Last September, during a visit to Upper Egypt, Interim President Adly Mansour pointed out that it was long marginalised because previous governments failed in their duty to develop it, underlining that it is time to start a real development process in Upper Egypt, especially in the fields of infrastructure, health and education.


Existing projects

Upper Egypt is already home to 6,130 industrial establishments at investments amounting to LE35.8 billion (9.7 percent of total industrial investment in Egypt), according to the country's Industrial Development Authority (IDA).

Those industrial establishments employ 148,639 workers (8.6 percent of labour employed in industrial establishments across Egypt) who are paid wages amounting to LE1.2 billion (5.9 percent of wages paid in industrial establishments across Egypt).

In 2009, the government had approved LE4.3 billion for projects on infrastructure improvement in the country's poorest 1000 villages, which are mostly located in Upper Egypt.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/88880.aspx

[LovelyLadyLux]

Government & Businessmen - THAT is a REAL COMMITTEE!!

[Hafiz]

Exactly LovelyLadyLux - whose hand will be in whose pocket. They might need a good wash down after this meeting.

An ominous quote: "We, the same working teams who worked together before the revolution, are preparing a development plan for 2015-2030," added El-Araby." Which revolution - I assume 2011 because the last changes are not a coup or revolution. Are they shameless? Most would want to hide unsavory previous couplings. They even say that Mubarak's Minister paved the way but that doesn't explain why things got so bad. His paving should be questioned and rejected not pulled out of the slime and washed off after at least 4 years. They don't question the past or prepare a new strategy. The story should be old answers for new questions and old crooks lining up for a new trough.

You can see that they are free marketeers - they wand the land and infrastructure free.

Again the maths problem: How could 80% of extreme poverty in Egypt be in in one region. The total for the country is about !7% so extreme poverty is 6 times more prevalent in Egypt than for the country as a whole. How could economic planning been so bad, why bring back the old guard when they failed so disastrously. What is the problem when "Egyptian private enterprise" is the answer. Even trusting Egyptians have voted that they think business corrupt.

Why the old figures. The capital investment figures are 2009. Maybe these are the most recent the government is prepared to publish.

Another quote: "President Adly Mansour pointed out that it was long marginalised because previous governments failed in their duty to develop it, underlining that it is time to start a real development process in Upper Egypt, especially in the fields of infrastructure, health and education." But doesn't the report say that Mubarak's ministers got it right, that this group of crooks met during mubarak and that some of them relevant to this program are back. The government need to be reading from the same koranic pages.

This journo isn't as stupid as others and does math. Whilst unemployment reduced 1995-2000 (very old figures) in the rest of Egypt by 14% it increased by 17% in Upper Egypt. A negative movement against the national figure of 31%. What was Mubarak doing, what were the trogs at this meeting doing at that time. Why are there no recent figures.

This journo looks like he might have half a go given the chance and a flack jacket. At least he does more than just print the press release.

[Glyphdoctor]

"I am inviting you to participate in developing Upper Egypt before we demand separation," Ashraf El-Thaalaby, the secretary of unregistered group the Upper Egyptians Party told the audience.

El-Thaalaby was invited to speak at the conference by the governor of Sohag to convey the problems faced by young Egyptians in the long neglected Upper Egypt region.

"Development in Upper Egypt is urgently needed. I am warning that if Upper Egypt does not get soon the attention it desperately needs from the state we could be seeing the Sudanese scenario," said El-Thaalaby in reference to the 2011 secession of South Sudan.

[Angela]

I have to say that after reading that report my mind immediately homed in on the references to Sudan and warning of the same happening here. A warning of a separation of Upper and Lower Egypt. I remember reading quotes from Henry Kissinger about there being a desire for Arab countries to be split so that they are easier to control.

[Hafiz]

Maybe except South Sudan is sitting on top of oil and its separation from resource poor Sudan makes sense from an economic point of view. They get to keep the nice bits. Upper Egypt isn't blessed with resources. Therefore separation from the rest of Egypt doesn't seem a good idea from an economic angle. That doesn't mean there aren't good reasons for Upper Egypt to feel cheated of the economic gains of the last 20 years. There are also deep religious differences in Sudan and a 20 year civil war with 2 million deaths. Lots of reasons to separate.

Glyphdoctor quotes the young (I assume) firebrand from the 'unregistered' community organization. The next bit of the report is a putdown which shows a dislike of debate by the Minister: "Adel Labib, minister of local development, responded with contention, arguing that Upper Egypt is not as neglected as the young journalist claimed and that such talk opens up space for a bidding war on participants' patriotism." Wouldn't a bidding war, as in free elections, be a very good rather than a bad idea. A good dose of new regional parties could really shake up the old national parties and lead to a bidding war for votes in Upper Egypt. Surely a good thing. Is he suggesting that there is not a bidding war for the Cairo or Alex vote?

My earlier long winded post means that things are really bad but is the answer to bring back filed Mubarak plans and some of the usual suspects to fix a problem which has defied solution for decades and been ignored by the Mubarak government?

[Glyphdoctor]

If I recall correctly during the reading out of the draft constitution, regional parties are to be banned.

I would disagree about Upper Egypt being lacking in resources. The only economic driver it doesn't have that the rest of Egypt has is the Suez Canal and it has a lot of stuff that the rest of the country doesn't have.

[Hafiz]

Yes, but difficult to run a business with high illiteracy and (more recently) major physical and mental development problems. This is code for low birth weight,inadequate food leading to bone and intellectual development problems etc. The UNDP reports on Upper Egypt are graphic and have been for a long time and they paint a picture of increasing problems which will limit the productivity of a future workforce - if ever there are jobs for them.

If the south resources other than cheap labor and agriculture then it has been a well kept secret.

The point about the preference for employment in government gets a frequent outing. Commentators say it is about light work (in a bloated bureaucracy) opportunities for a second job, regular pay, the near impossibility of dismissal, high status, the opportunities for patronage and, maybe, graft. In Egypt more bureaucrats is the last thing they need. IMF and others have called for a major reduction.

I know Glyphdoctor thinks USAID is less than perfect but it does focus on jobs in the market where the best minds should be working.

[BBLUX]

I guess it depends on the definition of Upper Egypt. So often you see the phrase used and then see that it is referring to Minya or Sohag.
Luxor and Aswan are apparently beyond even Upper Egypt.
However, business investment in the region has to be a good thing.