The total number of Egyptian governorates is expected to reach 32, Minister of State for Local Development Adel Labib announced in a press conference Wednesday.
Labib added according to new demarcation, the number of regional units will increase from seven to 11.
The step comes to implement the electoral platform of the newly-elected President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi based on redrawing the boundaries of Egyptian governorates to increase their agricultural hinterlands.
Sisi’s platform also involved establishing new cities and industrial zones in the desert, to enable Egypt’s growing population to live on 100 percent of the land.
By the end of 2013, Egypt’s population reached 91 million, out of which 83 million live inside the country and using only five to six percent of the total land area.
Labib said that the ministry is considering a “limited” reshuffle in Egypt’s governors within two weeks and stressed the importance of the youth representation in the new reshuffle, ONA reported.
In the conference, the minister announced that he would conduct field visits to several governorates, particularly those in Upper Egypt, in order to improve the governors’ performance.
He said that the ministry plans to create job opportunities for youth through providing them with loans to establish small and micro projects adding that the coming phase will witness a notable increase in local and foreign investments.
