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Egyptian National and Strategic Development Projects: News and Updates

This neglect (sometimes not intentional) is due to population demographics. Most of Egypt's population lives in this region of Egypt:



Along the Nile basically (lifeline of Egypt since time immortal).

Used to have that many palm trees at least prior to 1991 and the Iraq-Iran war but it has millions of palm trees like neighboring Eastern Province of KSA which is also famous for having the largest palm groves in the world (Al-Hasa, Qatif etc.) It's part of the same geo-climatic region.



I am not rejoicing due to that despite the many Turkish trolls on PDF and their annoying habit of derailing most Arab-related threads later to complain about the non-existent "Arab trolling" when we put their nonsense apart as a reply, but it shatters this "Turkish army is invincible" nonsense. The truth is (real facts on the ground) that those Arab armies many of those same people have made fun of (Iraqi Army, SAA (even though I am no great fan of them), Saudi Arabian army, UAE army, Yemeni army) have proven themselves more in recent times and fought urban battles and conducted large-scale military ops, that Turkey has simply not been doing for quite some time. I am curious to see if they would be doing any better in Yemen (I have no reason to believe so less knowing history and how the Ottomans were defeated more than once in Yemen) but if you read comments, it sounds like the Gambian army being compared with the US army. If you read PDF that is, lol.

Anyway back to more updates:



Very good. Such slums should be torn down and a new environment should be built. Most of the societal challenges emerge from such densely populated areas.


Great to see focus on youth and education.

BTW good to see the increasing focus on organic farming. @mahatir it seems that focus on this, while there in the GCC, is less than what the potential shows? In KSA most of the agriculture is still done on land and sure there is a lot of relatively fertile land but transitioning to greenhouse tech in certain regions would be a wise step.

What is the situation in UAE given the difficulties with farming/agriculture inland? The majority is probably greenhouse like in Qatar which is the "worst example" in the sense that they barely have any traditional agricultural areas due to geography.

I believe that agricultural tech, seawater desalination tech and every technology and sector related to combating arid environments is something that we need to invest billions in. Look at the success that Israel has had on this front for instance and especially China of late. Huge areas in China have turned from permanent desert to agricultural lands using pioneering tech.



Tunisia is not doing as bad. They were one of the few success stories brother in comparison with the rest. Along with the likes of Yemen until that went down you know where thanks to the Houthi terrorist cult.

@HannibalBarca will explain here.

Netherlands Spain and China are the top 3 countries when it comes to Greenhouses and reclaiming desert lands.
Egypt, by the way, reclaimed over 1.5 million acres of agriculture land where they are growing all kinds of crops.

Saudi Arabia had also has a great experience in this field when the government along with private sector companies reclaimed around 3 million acres of land, at that time Saudi Arabia was exporting wheat.

The only problem usually faced is when you are relying on non-renewable aquifers which eventually leads to turning reclaimed land to barren ones.

We need a sustainable source of water and this can be done by desalinating seawater using renewable energy either nuclear or solar then it would be economically feasible.

The other method could be relying on using high-tech greenhouses in the desert to grow different crops , usually high-tech greenhouses use 60-90 % less water than a regular field and give you 6-8 times higher output depending on what kind of crop your growing .

Greenhouses use artificial soil so you don't have to reclaim desert land and the plant nutrients are provided by adding it to the water that feeds the plant through drip irrigation. If Saudi Arabia and UAE adopt using greenhouses then they can utilize their aquifers for few more decades by that time the cost of desalinating seawater will be peanuts .

Saudi Arabia is already working on turning all its desalination plants to run by solar energy and I am sure at some point the government there will start growing in greenhouses using desalinated sea water.

UAE has a big agriculture community in Al-Ain that consists of greenhouses ( vegetables and fruits) and palm trees but UAE main hindrance is the availability of land due to country's small size and labor force.

Agriculture requires the availability of land and labor force and Saudi Arabia has both especially well trained Saudi youth. If Saudi Arabia adopts a greenhouse national project like Egypt then I am sure many Saudi Businessmen will invest billions of dollars especially that you have experienced agriculture firms in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has the infrastructure and capability but it needs government support because these projects cost a lot to establish and requires a highly trained labor force.

If you watched the explanation of the project in Egypt you will see that they contacted the 2 top greenhouse manufacturing companies in Spain and China, even a Dutch company helped Egypt in building some of these high tech greenhouses.

An Egyptian company has actually set up a manufacturing plant to build high tech greenhouses after the TOT agreement they made with a Spanish company called Rufepa.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiXmpR07Qys

The Egyptian president whenever he gives a speech or talks to the public always mentions the importance of saving water and utilizing the latest technologies to save water and increase agriculture output .

Imagine that Egypt will be producing 1.550 million tons of fuits and vegetables from only 20 thousand acres of high tech greenhouses by June 30th 2018, once the full project is completed Egypt will be producing around 8.5 million tons of fruits and vegetables on 100,000 acres of greenhouses.

When this project reaches full production stage I am sure other Arab countries would take same path in adopting setting up greenhouse communities like the ones Egypt recently built.

The video below is a brief explanation about this mega project , its mentioning the first phase which will be fully completed by June 2018. Egypt already finished 4,000 acres of greenhouses which Al-Sisi visited in Marsa Matruh and started growing fruits and vegetables.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbfb_QSf0oA

Most people were happy seeing Assad shooting down an israeli plane but for me I was happy when I saw this project in Egypt and happier when Saudi Arabia announced it will launch its first solar-powered desalination plant in 2019 .

http://reneweconomy.com.au/saudis-b...scale-solar-powered-desalination-plant-82903/

Tunisia is not doing as bad. They were one of the few success stories brother in comparison with the rest. Along with the likes of Yemen until that went down you know where thanks to the Houthi terrorist cult.

@HannibalBarca will explain here.

Tunisia only has 8 million people yet it was close to bankruptcy and only has foreign reserves enough for 3 months worth of imports.

The Tunisian government is held back by extreme revolutionary forces who simply want the government to be subsidizing everything and are continuously accusing foreign and local investors/businessmen of being thieves.
This hostile environment has forced many investors to pull out of Tunisia, at some point they have to wake up and start working hard to build their country.


Foreign reserves Tunisia dropped to its lowest level in 15 years.

https://www.reuters.com/article/tun...els-equal-to-84-days-of-imports-idUSL8N1PW2YN

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180125-tunisias-foreign-exchange-reserves-lowest-in-15-years/

The Funny thing Tunisia was one of the fastest growing Arab countries at 7% just before the revolution.

The Tunisian prime minister is a well-educated Agriculture engineer with a PHD degree, he knows how to get things done but he is being handcuffed by a hostile opposition that does not want to cooperate with him. They always carry out riots and protests against any reforms he is attempting to implement.

The Tunisian prime minister is fluent in 4 languages and was a professor in various top French universities.
If someone with such qualifications fails in fixing Tunisia then you must be certain that the environment there is against anyone who wants to succeed.
 
So yes it is possible.. to answer your first question..


What did you expect from a Hebrew spring!? anything good for an Arab country.. the only one who has survived it really is Egypt.. by a counter-revolution..Tunisia and Libya didn't..and Syria needed Iran and Russia to save it from total collapse

I expect nothing from good from MB/Qatari spring , the funny part Libya and Tunisia are better off than Syria. Any country that has both Turkish and Iranian influence will suffer from total destruction like Syria.
You dont see Tunisian or Libyan refugees flooding other countries but its only Syrians.
 
How is Tunisia's Foreign reserves these days?
Tunisia was growing at least 7% during the time of Ben-Ali and was doing well but since the Tunisian revolution, things have been going from worse to worse.

Do you think that Tunisian revolutionary forces are holding back Tunisian government from implementing required reforms to bring investments back to Tunisia?

Having 1-2-5 or7% growth mean nothing if the people don't have a share of it...
To hell growth...when it's only 0.01 of the "chosen" ppl who can get it...
Unemployment under Ben Ali was as worse as right now...
He hided the poor... by putting them away from the people..;away from the "aid" package...Away from the media...
Today those people get something...not a lot...but something...

After The revo... things begun to change... Ppl got their rights...and their share...
But Tunisia is not ALgeria or Libya or Egypt or GCC... she doesn't have any natural resources to give her a push or to grow her economy... So she needs to "create" this wealth... and that come with Foreign investment and by giving every opportunity to the youth to "create" and to help them along the road...

After the revo... Everything wasn't "perfect"... Terro played their parts...and Tourism...who was one of the only thing at that time...that give to the country "money" to survive... has disappeared... and it's only this year...that Tourist started to come back...

And it's since this past year and this year...that every reforms started to pass... and to be more precise... it's only been 2 Months...
The current gov...is reshaping the administration and the fiscal department...to make them more appealing to investors and manufacturers... and EU even gave us a gift for that... remember that they put us on their Tax Haven blacklist... no very helpful... neither this "Let's help the young Democracy" rhetoric...
The current gov is making huge investment in the agricultural sector... since it's the only hope "Right now" to get foreign currency... like with the olive oil... where we gonna be the first producers and exporter in the world...surpassing Spain... or the likes of Dates/Citrus fruits etc...

So yeah... We've got our freedom and dignity...now we gonna work on sustaining it for later generation... Nothing happen in few years... even less when you have nothing..and need to rebuild everything... it's gonna be hard... only the foul will deny it...
But we've got potential... we have thriving youth who are well educated... to the point where we have a Brain Drain problem... because of the lack of opportunity since 5-6 years now...

Order and Security is coming back... that's the first green sign... of a stable future.
Anyway... Only Time will judge us... We gonna see.

@HannibalBarca will explain here.

I don't need to explain...to someone who does't care about it... neither respect it...
When he summarize the Arab spring...or the Tunisia revolution as a "Hebrew spring" is already a sign of "stupidity"

It's like telling to a mom that his newborn is ugly... she will not believe it...
 
If they can also grow corn in Greenhouses that would be a game changer.
Corn flower represents 50% of the flower used to bake subsidized bread .

It can also be used to make ethanol. Here in the US, most gasoline at the pumps are 10% corn-based ethanol which is basically used as a biomass to reduce the full percentage of pure gasoline per gallon. So a surplus in corn could go a very long way.
 
I expect nothing from good from MB/Qatari spring , the funny part Libya and Tunisia are better off than Syria. Any country that has both Turkish and Iranian influence will suffer from total destruction like Syria.
You dont see Tunisian or Libyan refugees flooding other countries but its only Syrians.
Although you are right on most parts of it.. there are actually tons of Libyan refugees in Europe and some still try to cross.. less Tunisians though.. but the latter is suffering economically..Syria is in an odd position.. between a failed state and a colony split by superpowers, regional powers and their proxies..So it is not possible to figure out the situation clearly..
 
Although you are right on most parts of it.. there are actually tons of Libyan refugees in Europe and some still try to cross.. less Tunisians though.. but the latter is suffering economically..Syria is in an odd position.. between a failed state and a colony split by superpowers, regional powers and their proxies..So it is not possible to figure out the situation clearly..
Tunisia is way less suffering (economically) than Egypt... way way less...
 
Tunisia is way less suffering (economically) than Egypt... way way less...
I like your sense of humor ; let's hope your foreign reserves don't run out .

When 4,000 Tunisian youth join isis for 100 dollars per month speaks volume of the great economic situation in Tunisia .

Although you are right on most parts of it.. there are actually tons of Libyan refugees in Europe and some still try to cross.. less Tunisians though.. but the latter is suffering economically..Syria is in an odd position.. between a failed state and a colony split by superpowers, regional powers and their proxies..So it is not possible to figure out the situation clearly..
Tunisia's main problem is arrogance and ignorance . People there think they are the best nation god ever created ; this blinded arrogance is what leading them to destruction . They have to wake up ; start fixing their problems and stop blaming other countries for their shithole situation
 
I like your sense of humor ; let's hope your foreign reserves don't run out .

When 4,000 Tunisian youth join isis for 100 dollars per month speaks volume of the great economic situation in Tunisia .


Tunisia's main problem is arrogance and ignorance . People there think they are the best nation god ever created ; this blinded arrogance is what leading them to destruction . They have to wake up ; start fixing their problems and stop blaming other countries for their shithole situation
Really strange numbers you're putting there as all of your statistic including Tunisia's population which is 11m to the 4.000 fighter joining ISIS you really have a thing for Tunisia aren't you ?
 
I like your sense of humor ; let's hope your foreign reserves don't run out .

When 4,000 Tunisian youth join isis for 100 dollars per month speaks volume of the great economic situation in Tunisia .


Tunisia's main problem is arrogance and ignorance . People there think they are the best nation god ever created ; this blinded arrogance is what leading them to destruction . They have to wake up ; start fixing their problems and stop blaming other countries for their shithole situation

You are a lost cause...
Anyway...it's not like I'm waiting a candy from you...you ask my opinion..;even though you don't care about the answer...

Best regards, and no need to quote me later on..; if you "ask" something... no need to waste my time...

Really strange numbers you're putting there as all of your statistic including Tunisia's population which is 11m to the 4.000 fighter joining ISIS you really have a thing for Tunisia aren't you ?
Well... jealousy is one of them...
And he even dare calling Tunisians "Ignorant"..;when he can't google properly TN population right... 8Mil he said... But it's always interesting to see someone in auto-humiliation mode...

and quite sad...too...
 
@mahatir

Great post.

Yes, back in the 1970's, 1980's and early 1990's KSA was in fact one of the largest wheat exporters in the world (top 6), even exporting large quantities to USSR of all places. Groundwater depletion (acquires) made such large-scale production insufficient on the long run so it was stopped. However in theory, KSA could become almost entirely self-sufficient when it comes to at least 90% of all agricultural products. Even rice is grown in parts of KSA although that industry is not what it once was for various reasons.




Yes, Spain is a major producer of vegetables and fruits to the rest of Europe and a lot of that is grown in greenhouses all-year round in particular during the winer. The Murcia region is especially famous for this.

Yes, seawater desalination is the future and already the present in KSA. In fact KSA is leading worldwide. The Saline Water Conversion Corporation in Khobar produces 5 million cubic meters of desalinated water a day.

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1242821/saudi-arabia

If I am not wrong the Netherlands are pioneering new tech and techniques when it comes to high-tech greenhouses. Australia as well.


Another technique that could be used;


However I also believe that you can reverse decertification caused by humans if you reduce wastefulness (water use) and improve the ecosystem.

China is doing that with great success (at least what I have read) in the huge desert/arid areas of the country.


There is also the climatic aspect of the story. Less than 10.000 years ago the Arab world and in particular Arabia was actually one of the most fertile areas of the world. Numerous lakes dotted the landscape (reman at of that are those 100's if not 1000's of wadis) as well as some of the largest lakes in the world back then. To this day you have monsoon seasons in parts of Oman, Yemen and KSA (Southern). They are called khareef but they only impact specific regions (unfortunately).

There are quite feasible scientific theories that show that the climate of the Arab will reverse to that era eventually and that this can be aided by increased forestation. Something that is being done in KSA right now where millions of new trees have been planted in valleys and arid regions with great success.

Anyone reading this post that is an Arab user and is interested about this issue, I highly recommend to read this informative article below about this issue.

http://www.ecoseeds.com/cool.html


Everything that we discuss also concerns Egypt of course and the same thing could be done. However the "problem" with Egypt is that people (almost all Egyptians) live along the Nile while 98% of the land is unused due to being desert. In KSA the population centers are more widely spread due to geography.

Part of the Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 is to improve the agricultural sector but as you say it is all about the government and private sector working in tandem with clear goals. I think this will happen and improve further given other areas doing the same.

Yes, those are some very impressive numbers that will increase Egyptian agricultural exports and at the same time make them more efficient and increase employment and possibly further investment. However reaching/working towards self-succifiency on this front is a desirable goal on its own that each Arab country should pursue. It is great news.


Personally I hope for a varied solution (seawater desalination, less wastefulness - a change of culture in other words, new improved tech and techniques to combat desertification, replanting of trees and fauna in arid areas, greenhouses, including high-tech greenhouses and aiding the climate oscillation).

BTW guys, @HannibalBarca @mahatir no need to have any hard feelings if there are some disagreements in terms of views. Let's keep it civil as we are all in a similar boat and that requires cooperation.
 
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Most people were happy seeing Assad shooting down an israeli plane but for me I was happy when I saw this project in Egypt and happier when Saudi Arabia announced it will launch its first solar-powered desalination plant in 2019 .

Great observation.

The Tunisian prime minister is fluent in 4 languages and was a professor in various top French universities.

Indeed. Reminds me of the likes of Nasser and Sadat who also had great command of several languages and were the epitome of leaders. Considering Sisi's background, it's actually amazing how he's handled the presidency from a diplomatic standpoint. It would go a long way for him if he was actually fluent in English.

I expect nothing from good from MB/Qatari spring , the funny part Libya and Tunisia are better off than Syria. Any country that has both Turkish and Iranian influence will suffer from total destruction like Syria.

Something that Sisi understood very well, and which is why he's vilified by the likes of those who claim they're outraged by the "coup" lol. Luckily most of us aren't naive.

Having 1-2-5 or7% growth mean nothing if the people don't have a share of it...
To hell growth...when it's only 0.01 of the "chosen" ppl who can get it...
Unemployment under Ben Ali was as worse as right now...
He hided the poor... by putting them away from the people..;away from the "aid" package...Away from the media...
Today those people get something...not a lot...but something...

After The revo... things begun to change... Ppl got their rights...and their share...
But Tunisia is not ALgeria or Libya or Egypt or GCC... she doesn't have any natural resources to give her a push or to grow her economy... So she needs to "create" this wealth... and that come with Foreign investment and by giving every opportunity to the youth to "create" and to help them along the road...

After the revo... Everything wasn't "perfect"... Terro played their parts...and Tourism...who was one of the only thing at that time...that give to the country "money" to survive... has disappeared... and it's only this year...that Tourist started to come back...

And it's since this past year and this year...that every reforms started to pass... and to be more precise... it's only been 2 Months...
The current gov...is reshaping the administration and the fiscal department...to make them more appealing to investors and manufacturers... and EU even gave us a gift for that... remember that they put us on their Tax Haven blacklist... no very helpful... neither this "Let's help the young Democracy" rhetoric...
The current gov is making huge investment in the agricultural sector... since it's the only hope "Right now" to get foreign currency... like with the olive oil... where we gonna be the first producers and exporter in the world...surpassing Spain... or the likes of Dates/Citrus fruits etc...

So yeah... We've got our freedom and dignity...now we gonna work on sustaining it for later generation... Nothing happen in few years... even less when you have nothing..and need to rebuild everything... it's gonna be hard... only the foul will deny it...
But we've got potential... we have thriving youth who are well educated... to the point where we have a Brain Drain problem... because of the lack of opportunity since 5-6 years now...

Order and Security is coming back... that's the first green sign... of a stable future.
Anyway... Only Time will judge us... We gonna see.

Hopefully the post-revolution and newfound governance growing pains are on their way out. Let's hope for a bright future from here on.

Tunisia is way less suffering (economically) than Egypt... way way less...

How do you mean exactly?
 
Great observation.



Indeed. Reminds me of the likes of Nasser and Sadat who also had great command of several languages and were the epitome of leaders. Considering Sisi's background, it's actually amazing how he's handled the presidency from a diplomatic standpoint. It would go a long way for him if he was actually fluent in English.

Something that Sisi understood very well, and which is why he's vilified by the likes of those who claim they're outraged by the "coup" lol. Luckily most of us aren't naive.

Sadat was the best leader Egypt ever had but he did not have the courage to reform economy after 1978 riots instigated by extreme left-wing groups after he increased subsidized bread price.

Sisi had the guts to reform the economy and remove many wasteful subsidies , he did what should have been done 40 years ago.

I dont think Sisi will ever be able to speak english properly, he is a sha3bi guy & saye3 but knows how to get things done.

Nasser wasted Egypt resources supporting worthless countries like Algeria, he should have focused on building Egypt economy and providing a better life for Egyptians, Just like what Sisi is working on right now.

Egypt still has a long way to go, if the government continues focusing on building labor-intensive industries like textiles, food processing , electronics, home appliances, and greenhouses. This should be sufficient to turn Egypt into a high middle-income country.

The Egyptian people are not asking for much and usually prefer stability over chaos and riots.


I admire Al-Sisi because he thinks only about his country's interests and the only Egyptian president who tried to speak to the general public in Egyptian slang dialect to explain to them Egypt's most pressing issues like water, wasteful subsidies, MB threat, birth control and dealing with slums.

Although you are right on most parts of it.. there are actually tons of Libyan refugees in Europe and some still try to cross.. less Tunisians though.. but the latter is suffering economically..Syria is in an odd position.. between a failed state and a colony split by superpowers, regional powers and their proxies..So it is not possible to figure out the situation clearly..

Bro when it comes to Syria I no longer know who is against who , total mess with different parties fighting each other.
 
How do you mean exactly?

Egypt has btw 27-30% of her population under Poverty line.
Tunisia has btw 14-16% of her population under Poverty line.

And Egypt poverty line will increase LE 700 – LE 800 monthly in the coming year... while TN one is on the decrease since 2012 (was around 20-21%)

You have also the middle class
Egypt at 10-15%
Tunisia at 67-70%

That's how it is... The economical burden of Tunisia on Tunisians is way way less than Egypt on Egyptians in comparison. That's what I meant.
 
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Egypt has btw 27-30% of her population under Poverty line.
Tunisia has btw 14-16% of her population under Poverty line.

And Egypt poverty line will increase LE 700 – LE 800 monthly in the coming year... while TN one is on the decrease since 2012 (was around 20-21%)

You have also the middle class
Egypt at 10-15%
Tunisia at 67-70%

That's how it is... The economical burden of Tunisia on Tunisians is way way less than Egypt on Egyptians in comparison. That's what I meant.

Just curious where did you got the middle class numbers?

While I don't disagree with the poverty line percentages, you also have to factor population into account. The greater the population, the greater the figures at both ends. Tunisia with 11 million compared to Egypt with 93 million is a huge disparity, which more often than not increases that burden. But by the same token, a larger population under different circumstance could and should be doing much better, there is no question about that.
 
Just curious where did you got the middle class numbers?

While I don't disagree with the poverty line percentages, you also have to factor population into account. The greater the population, the greater the figures at both ends. Tunisia with 11 million compared to Egypt with 93 million is a huge disparity, which more often than not increases that burden. But by the same token, a larger population under different circumstance could and should be doing much better, there is no question about that.

Tunisia has 12Mil Pop
Egypt has 95Mil Pop

Tunisia GDP 42 $Bil
Egypt GDP 336 $Bil

Factor btw Pop/GDP for both countries in comparison is around 3.5x (42/12 & 336/95) it's a perfect relation... Meaning it's proportional... GDP in relation with population...

Middle class:
http://blogs.worldbank.org/arabvoices/middle-class-dynamics-and-arab-spring

Ps: Egypt population is not exceptional for the world standard. and yes, I agree with you, under other conditions it's very strong asset. Inshallah in the next years it will be.
 
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