Eng. Sherif El Sherbini, Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities, chaired the Board of Directors meeting of the Tourism Development Authority, where he reviewed the Authority’s efforts to support development at sites under its jurisdiction, Invest-Gate reports.

The meeting was attended by Dr. Manal Awad, Minister of Local Development; Mr. Sherif Fathi, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities; and Major General Khaled Mubarak, Governor of South Sinai, either in person or via video conference.

During the meeting, the Board of Directors approved the Authority’s draft general budget for the fiscal year 2025/2026. They also approved a request from the General Authority for Health Care to allocate a plot of land measuring 8,000 sqm from the jurisdiction of the Tourism Development Authority  for the benefit of Suez Governorate, to establish a field hospital serving the Ain Sokhna tourism sector. The National Center for Planning State Land Uses will be notified to take the necessary actions.

The meeting included a discussion of the quarterly report on the implementation of the Authority’s projects across all tourism development sectors, covering the period until December 2024. This report included a follow-up on 573 major projects, categorized into 506 limited development projects and 67 integrated development projects, encompassing 1,158 sub-projects, for a total of 1,664 projects across all tourism sectors.

The Board also discussed proposed mechanisms to stimulate hotel tourism investment projects affiliated with the General Authority for Tourism Development, along with several other topics related to tourism development projects, and made necessary decisions regarding them.

Additionally, the meeting reviewed the results of the facilities granted to tourism development and investment companies concerning their financial obligations to the Authority, including the status of several projects that are overdue in payments and the mechanisms for addressing these issues.

The meeting also examined the procedures implemented for negligent companies, specifically those with an implementation rate below 15%, and discussed the full capacities required to implement the important projects.

El Sherbini concluded the meeting by emphasizing the need to implement the directives of the political leadership to increase hotel rooms and tourism projects. He directed the preparation of a comprehensive classification of delayed cases and a vision for addressing these cases to be presented to the Board at its next meeting.

He noted that this vision would be studied before presentation, and he called for the formation of a committee, including relevant authorities, to amend the technical regulations governing the Authority’s operations, ensuring all cases and necessary procedures are addressed in the upcoming phase.