The Establishment of a New Public A

Recently, a new law was issued under No. 157 of 2018 (the “Law”) establishing the Authority for the Development of Upper Egypt (the “Authority”),[1] granting it independent legal personality and seating it in Cairo. In its second issuance Article, the Law defines the main purpose of the new Authority to be “laying out a plan to speed up the process of comprehensive development in Upper Egypt regions … and ensuring their implementation, with the participation of Upper Egypt residents in development projects and their having priority in benefiting from those projects. This is while taking into consideration the cultural and environmental patterns of the community, and within the general context of the State’s general social and economic plan.” As for the Authority’s management, the Law provides that a board of directors be appointed by the Prime Minister. The board must include a full time Chairman, representatives from the Ministries of Defence, Finance, Local Development, Investment, Planning, and Water Resources, representatives from each of the General Intelligence, the Federation of Egyptian Industries, the Federation of Commercial Chambers, in addition to three expert members.  Upper Egypt Governors may attend board meetings upon invitation to discuss relevant subjects, and they receive a vote in board meeting decisions which they attend. The board’s competencies include laying out comprehensive development plans for Upper Egypt, undertaking procedures for the accomplishment of these plans and following up on their implementation, ratifying contracts concluded by the Authority in order to implement projects, and approving the establishment of companies in which the Authority contributes, in addition to issuing the internal regulations for these companies. The Law also contains a provision that allows the Authority to establish companies solely or with others in order to accomplish its objectives. It also allows the Authority to assign companies and specialized bodies to establish and implement its projects.

Conclusion

Efforts to place development of Upper Egypt on the State’s priority list are no doubt appreciated in order to give a needed push to social and economic development in that underprivileged region. However, the Law is not sufficiently clear in determining the nature of the Authority’s role. Whereas it states that the Authority’s general objective is to speed up the process of comprehensive development in Upper Egypt - which is a regulatory and supervisory role -, it also grants the Authority the power to establish companies and construct projects – which is more of a developer or contractor role. This confusion between the roles of supervisor and implementer does not constitute a good governance model.   [1] Law No. 157/2018 establishing the Authority for the Development of Upper Egypt, Official Gazette, Issue No. 28 (bis) (b), 16 July 2018.