Egypt to Release Guide on Transfer Plan to New Administrative Capital

A model of a planned new capital for Egypt is displayed for investors during the final day of Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, March 15, 2015. (Reuters)
A model of a planned new capital for Egypt is displayed for investors during the final day of Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, March 15, 2015. (Reuters)
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Egypt to Release Guide on Transfer Plan to New Administrative Capital

A model of a planned new capital for Egypt is displayed for investors during the final day of Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, March 15, 2015. (Reuters)
A model of a planned new capital for Egypt is displayed for investors during the final day of Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, March 15, 2015. (Reuters)

Egypt’s Ministry of Planning, Follow-up and Administrative Reform is expected to release a guide on the executive plan for the process of transferring entities and ministries to the New Administrative Capital.

“The guide will serve as a document specifying the role and responsibility of each participant in the transfer process, supported by performance indicators,” said Planning Minister Hala al-Saeed.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly held Friday a meeting to follow up on the latest developments in the move to the new capital.

The meeting was attended by Saeed, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait, Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities Assem al-Gazzar, Minister of Transport Kamel el Wazir, Chairman of the New Administrative Capital Company for Urban Development Ahmed Zaki Abdeen and a number of other officials.

Madbouly stressed his keenness to follow up on the executive position of the transfer process to the new capital in a regular manner.

He mainly follows up on the construction work, the process of transferring the staff and the management of the government district, as well as identifying the efforts made in the mechanization and digital transformation in government buildings.

“The implementation plan has been divided into major activities carried out by specific entities, such as information infrastructure, human resources and incentives to move to the new capital,” Saeed explained.

She added that these incentives include transportation and the provision of housing units for employees who will be transferred by offering them facilitation in payment methods.

Wazir, for his part, pointed out that a plan has been prepared for the mass transportation of the staff and points where they will be assembled have been identified in order to facilitate the process.

In June, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called on the government to adhere to the construction plan in the new capital and to speed up the completion of the main and internal roads.



Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
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Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)

Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday, filling the vacant presidency with a general who enjoys US approval and showing the diminished sway of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after its devastating war with Israel.
The outcome reflected shifts in the power balance in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, with Hezbollah badly pummelled from last year's war, and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad toppled in December.
The presidency, reserved for a Maronite Christian in Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, with deeply divided factions unable to agree on a candidate able to win enough votes in the 128-seat parliament.
Aoun fell short of the 86 votes needed in a first round vote, but crossed the threshold with 99 votes in a second round, according to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, after lawmakers from Hezbollah and its Shiite ally the Amal Movement backed him.
Momentum built behind Aoun on Wednesday as Hezbollah's long preferred candidate, Suleiman Franjieh, withdrew and declared support for the army commander, and as French envoy shuttled around Beirut, urging his election in meetings with politicians, three Lebanese political sources said.
Aoun's election is a first step towards reviving government institutions in a country which has had neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet since Aoun left office.
Lebanon, its economy still reeling from a devastating financial collapse in 2019, is in dire need of international support to rebuild from the war, which the World Bank estimates cost the country $8.5 billion.
Lebanon's system of government requires the new president to convene consultations with lawmakers to nominate a Sunni Muslim prime minister to form a new cabinet, a process that can often be protracted as factions barter over ministerial portfolios.
Aoun has a key role in shoring up a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel which was brokered by Washington and Paris in November. The terms require the Lebanese military to deploy into south Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.
Aoun, 60, has been commander of the Lebanese army since 2017.