El Gouna succeeds in representing an impeccable model for the ultimate sustainable integrated towns. Invest-Gate sits with Mohamed Ashour, headed Commercial and Business Development of El Gouna to learn more.

Mohamed Ashour, head of Commercial and Business Development of El Gouna says, “My honor to be part of Orascom

Mohamed Ashour, head of Commercial & Business Development of El Gouna

Development family comes from the fact that we are probably one of the very few in the world, who build integrated towns in every sense of the word, taking into consideration the environmental sustainability aspect.” He adds, “El Gouna has been long recognized as the Middle East’s first sustainable town since 2014; and this came as a result of the environmental efforts that the town has exerted.”

He further elaborates on El Gouna hotels, having environmental monitoring administration keeping up monthly reports, including the reported consumption of electricity, fuel, freshwater, water irrigation, and waste.

Ashour explains that El Gouna has collaborated with Ertekaa for years, which is a leading Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) company that manages El Gouna’s waste, through offering fully integrated, eco-conscious waste management solutions since 2014 where the total annual solid waste collected and compressed is 5,370 Tons yearly.

In addition, he talks about El Gouna’s latest initiative. “Preserving Mangrove Trees”, the only species of trees in the world that can endure saltwater and help in filtering pollutants and trapping sediments originating from land. El Gouna decided to plant 2000 mangrove trees as first phase of a long term project, under the supervision of Ministry of Environment and Architectural engineer Gabriel Mikhail.

Finally, he notes that El Gouna is the flagship town of the Green Star Hotel program (GSH), which is a national green certification and capacity-building program managed by the Egyptian Hotel Association (EHA) under the patronage of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism. The GSH program offers an opportunity for hotels operating in Egypt to be internationally recognized for raising their environmental performance and social standards while reducing their operational costs.