The unified planning draft law is finalized and will be tendered to the cabinet by the beginning of 2017, the planning Minister said.

In an interview with MENA on Wednesday, Ashraf el Arabi said the bill guarantees coordination at central and local levels for planning.

He added that a sovereign investment fund "Amlak" was set up and a bill governing the fund will be tackled by the cabinet by the beginning of 2017 then referred to the State Council and the parliament.
The 5 billion Egyptian pound will act as the state's investment arm and is intended to encourage diversification and support sustainable economic and social development.

The minister said 2016 marked a distinguished year for the ministry's performance, referring to President Abdel Fattah El Sisi's launch of the Egypt vision 2030 which represents a roadmap of Egypt's development plan in the coming 15 years.

The Egypt vision 2030 took two years of hard work, he said.

He noted that the year marked reforming and developing planning mechanism in Egypt.

He added that Ayadi Company which the ministry set up aimed at supporting promising initiatives, industries and projects.

He said the company backed several projects, including the furniture city in Damietta, that will reap their fruit in 2017.

He said 2016 is a watershed year in Egypt's economic history as several important decisions were taken with an aim to place the Egyptian economy on the right track and restore stability.

He noted that the ministry is working on a place digitalization project which aims that each place in Egypt would have a unified code number.

He added that the National Planning Institute was reopened after renovation to support planning and training mechanisms.

In 2016, the parliament approved the civil service law after the ministry carried out needed amendments to the law, he said.

He added that a secured electronic network was set up to link databases nationwide, noting that a plan will be worked out to link databases of all institutions.

The ministry was a key partner in laying down the government program and the Presidential Leadership Program for youths.

Source: MENA