Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities, Assem El-Gazzar, met with Pope Tawadros II, the Pope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, on Wednesday at the Papal headquarters in St. Mark’s Cathedral in Abbassiya, Invest-Gate reports.

The meeting aimed to monitor the progress of churches in new cities and was attended by Walid Abbas, the Deputy Chairman of the New Urban Communities Authority for Planning and Projects – overseeing the Minister of Housing’s office.

Moreover, El-Gazzar affirmed that the ministry, represented by the New Urban Communities Authority, is committed to implementing the political leadership’s directives to provide all services to the residents of new cities, including religious services (mosques and churches) by the governing laws and regulations of the New Urban Communities Authority.

Furthermore, El-Gazzar highlighted that the urban plans for new cities encompass providing religious services (mosques and churches), with the necessary lands made available for constructing churches based on requests submitted by relevant authorities.

Notably, this approval is granted by the Board of Directors of the New Urban Communities Authority within the framework of Law No. 80 of 2016, which regulates the construction and renovation of churches.