Minister of Housing Reviews Progress on ‘Housing for All Egyptians’ Initiative, Issues Directives to Accelerate Completion

On Wednesday evening, Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities, Eng. Sherif El-Sherbiny, held a regular meeting to review the progress of the “Housing for All Egyptians” presidential initiative. The initiative focuses on providing housing units for low- and middle-income citizens in various new cities. The meeting was attended by Dr. Waleed Abbas, Deputy Head of the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) for Planning and Projects, Eng. Amin Ghoneim, Deputy Head of NUCA for Development and City Development, and other officials from the Ministry and the new cities’ authorities.

Minister El-Sherbiny began the meeting by emphasizing the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, which stress the importance of swiftly completing and delivering the units to their rightful owners. He issued a series of directives to expedite the implementation of the initiative.

During the meeting, the Minister reviewed detailed reports prepared by his technical office on the site visits to various projects. These reports highlighted delays in some areas, which were then discussed with the relevant city officials to identify the causes and propose solutions to accelerate the completion and delivery of the units.

The Minister instructed city officials to establish specific timelines for completing the housing units in phases, with each official held directly accountable for meeting these deadlines. He also urged the responsible parties to monitor the implementation of decisions made during follow-up meetings and to carefully select reliable contractors while avoiding those that fail to meet deadlines.

Furthermore, El-Sherbiny called for the completion of finished segments of the projects, including units, utilities, and landscaping, as soon as possible, with a focus on delivering units from previous announcements promptly. He also directed officials to hold meetings with contractors to set immediate targets.

The Minister emphasized the need for an integrated approach to financial management, aligning funds with the priority of project completion. This includes coordinating the construction of housing units with infrastructure, landscaping, and service facilities to ensure that all project components are completed simultaneously and units are delivered to beneficiaries upon site completion.

El-Sherbiny stressed the importance of quality standards in all phases of the project, with no compromise on the quality of execution. He also instructed the implementation of model designs for landscaping and general site coordination to be standardized across different cities, with a focus on using low-water-demand ground covers and ensuring regular maintenance of landscaping and site coordination.

Moreover, the Minister highlighted the role of the NUCA Beautification Unit in enhancing the aesthetic aspects of the project sites. This includes artistic elements such as paintings on electrical kiosks, providing seating areas with shaded trees, optimizing the distribution of lighting poles, and finding architectural solutions for the ventilation areas to enhance the overall appearance of the buildings.

Dr. Waleed Abbas stated that efforts are being made to expedite the review of any procedures related to the planning of project sites, ensuring that housing units are completed and delivered promptly. Eng. Amin Ghoneim added that the Development Sector is conducting regular site visits to various project locations to resolve any issues that may hinder progress and ensure the highest quality of work is maintained.