by Marwa Yahya

CAIRO, July 22 (Xinhua) -- "It is a 21st-century project that will change the life of millions of Egyptians," said Mohamed Khairy, a 32-year-old farmer when referring to the "Decent Life" Initiative launched by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi last week.

In the past years, many similar projects were announced for developing the rural areas, but the implementation remained soundless for unknown reasons, Khairy from a village in the southern province of Minya told Xinhua.

"However, since the initiative was launched, I can see engineers and workers building new roads and sanitation networks," he said.

Aiming to upgrade life in the countryside, the Decent Life Initiative is Egypt's biggest megaproject in its modern history, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on July 15.

According to the prime minister, the newly-announced initiative costs more than 700 billion Egyptian pounds (nearly 45 billion U.S. dollars), and "it is a 100 percent Egypt-financed project."

Khairy said the project will help provide clean water, improve poor sewers, supply natural gas and add more schools and hospitals to the villages.

The initiative will also reduce the unemployment rates in rural areas because many inhabitants will work in construction work instead of leaving their homes to struggle in cities, he added.

The project will cover 4,584 villages across the country, Madbouly said, adding that the first phase will include infrastructure projects and schools as well as modern houses.

Meanwhile, Waleed Gaballah, professor of financial and economic jurisdictions at Cairo University, said that the initiative is the country's largest project for developing villages, which is expected to raise the standard of living of 58 million people by producing basic services.

Gaballah, also a member of the Egyptian Association for Political Economy, noted that it is a big step that even exceeds the expectations of the citizens and related policies will reach the wide scale of the most needed people.

"The initiative is more about creating a better life in the targeted villages," Gaballah said, explaining that the inhabitants will enjoy a good supply of electricity, water, natural gas.

Besides, the villages will be equipped with developed roads and efficient health, educational and cultural services, and governmental complexes, while small businesses are also expected to be launched in the future.

The economic expert believes that by implementing that developmental project, thousands of direct and indirect job opportunities will be created in the construction and maintenance projects in the short and long run.

"Meanwhile, the initiative will also go compatible with the sustainable development requirements," he noted, saying it will match the environmental necessities by reducing the harmful emission, an important factor for preserving the capabilities of the coming generations.

Developing and upgrading the villages will relatively narrow the gap between towns and villages and increase the satisfaction indicators among the rural populations, according to Gaballah.

Saeed Tawfiq, professor of funding and investment at Ain Shams University, explained that "the project's large fund will accelerate the economic revival amid repercussions of COVID-19 by increasing the revenues of the Egyptian companies and factories."

Saying the Egyptian rural areas are in dire need of changes at all levels as the villages have suffered poor conditions for a long time, he said that once the initiative is promoted, the living conditions of the people there will be improved, thus stimulating the economic growth of the country. Enditem

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