Egypt to invest $15.4bn in Sinai Peninsula

Egypt’s Minister of Planning said that the government plans to invest 275 billion Egyptian pounds ($15.4 billion) in the country’s Sinai Peninsula between now and 2022.

The new investments will include a 15,590 acre fish farm, agricultural and health projects, and road construction projects, Planning Minister Hala El-Saeed said in a press conference yesterday.

The new fish farm will be built in the Suez Canal area. The canal will also see the creation of a natural lake.

#Sinai

Other projects include an industrial area in the coastal province of Port Said and around ten roads.

The minister added that the projects include establishing a number of housing units, as well as 15 hospitals and clinics, nine of which have already been built. New universities will be established at a cost of 5.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($0.3 billion), she added.

No details were given as to where the funding was being sourced from.

Investments in North Sinai include water supplies, projects in education roads, and establishing the new Rafah city.

READ: Egyptian companies mull importing gas from Israel

In the past decade, North Sinai has witnessed fierce confrontations between militants and security forces, with militants, mostly affiliated to Daesh, carrying out attacks that target Egyptian police and army forces.

Rights groups have slammed Egypt for using the unrest in the area as an excuse to evict residents and quash dissent. There have been numerous reports of extrajudicial killings in the area by government forces under the pretext of “tackling terrorism”.