Finance Minister Momtaz al-Saeed announced Saturday that the state budget for the coming year gives priority to a broad national development project in Sinai.
He told Al-Masry Al-Youm that in the coming weeks the government will jump-start the project, in collaboration with the Sinai Development Authority, to which LE10 million had been allocated, with additional investments planned.
The announcement comes less than a week after an attack by unknown gunmen on a checkpoint in Rafah, in Sinai, that left at least 16 Egyptian security forces dead. The attack has spurred criticism of the government's handling of the worsening security situation in the peninsula.
Minister of Petroleum Osama Kamal commented on the issue, saying that the best way to eliminate terrorist acts in some areas of Sinai is to establish development and reconstruction projects in the peninsula. The projects should help meet social, political and economic needs, he said.
For its part, he said the petroleum industry will endeavor to increase its activities in Sinai as well.
He said mineral resources companies had alreadly planned mining operations that would provide job oppurtunities to locals.Saeed said that the Sinai Company for Natural Gas also plans to improve gas delivery in the area.
Former Finance Minister Samir Radwan, meanwhile, called on all state agencies, including the cabinet, the military, the intelligence services and the national security agency, to come together to implement a development project in Sinai. He said the initiative is of the upmost importance for the socio-economic security of the country.
Radwan also said the state should recast its relationship with the Bedouins of Sinai and give them all their rights as citizens, which he said they were deprived of under the former regime.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
