Eng. Randa El-Menshawy, Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities, participated in a hearing held by the subcommittee formed to study and prepare a draft Local Administration Law. The session aimed to present the Ministry of Housing’s vision for the draft law and its relationship with new urban communities.
The hearing was attended by the chairman of the local administration committee at the House of Representatives and committee members. It was chaired by MP Alaa Fouad, Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, and attended by Dr. Walid Abbas, Deputy Minister of Housing for New Urban Communities.
Eng. Randa El-Menshawy began her speech by affirming her full support for all efforts to develop the local administration system, strengthen decentralization, enable citizens to participate in managing their affairs, and improve the quality of services provided to them.
She noted that the shared goal is to achieve more efficient administration, more equitable development, and a better future for Egyptian citizens. She also stressed that developing local administration must be based on integration among state institutions. Responsibilities should only be assigned after ensuring that the capacity to fulfill them is available.
The minister explained that new cities are not merely residential communities located within the geographical boundaries of a governorate. Instead, they are integrated development projects based on long-term strategic planning, substantial investments in land, utilities, and infrastructure, and comprehensive systems for managing development, urban expansion, and investment attraction.
She pointed out that integrating these cities into the local administration system should not be treated as a general administrative procedure. Rather, it should be based on an objective assessment of each city, taking into account its level of completion, operational capacity, financial sustainability, and the efficiency of its utilities.
In this context, the minister stressed the need to consider the provisions of Law No. 59 of 1979 on the Establishment of New Urban Communities, particularly Articles 13 and 50, which address jurisdiction and the procedures for transferring new urban communities to local administration units.
She proposed that the draft law include a clear framework for coordination between the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) and governorates. This framework should establish objective criteria for assessing each city’s readiness before handover, define responsibilities for managing and maintaining utilities, determine the status of assets, financial obligations, and existing contracts, and ensure that jurisdictions do not overlap and decisions do not conflict.
The minister also emphasized the importance of ensuring that community participation and boards of trustees support administrative efficiency and service quality within clearly defined jurisdictions. This would preserve integration between public participation and the technical and executive management of cities.
She noted that her proposal does not seek an exemption from reform. Instead, it calls for an approach that accounts for the different characteristics of cities and avoids treating a city still undergoing development in the same way as one whose essential components are complete and which is ready for local administration.
At the conclusion of her speech, the minister reaffirmed the Ministry of Housing’s full readiness to cooperate with the House of Representatives and relevant authorities to develop balanced legislation. Such legislation should achieve the goals of decentralization and improved public services while preserving the efficient management of new cities and the sustainability of investments in them.