Egypt’s de facto ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi has said that the armed forces will allocate LE250 million toward implementing urgent development projects in the Sinai Peninsula.
At the opening of a new cement plant in Arish, North Sinai, on Monday, Tantawi said the amount is separate from allocations to Sinai in the state budget.
He added that amount will be taken from the military-owned National Service Project Organization, state-run news service MENA reported on Monday.
Tantawi told Bedouin tribal leaders who attended the inauguration of the factory that only a few people are hindering the development of Sinai.
Since the beginning of the uprising in Egypt that toppled President Hosni Mubarak last year, security in the peninsula has deteriorated significantly, with Egypt sending troops into the area to try to bring it back under control.
Three major security problems have surfaced since then: tourist kidnappings, cross-border infiltrators and attacks on the gas pipeline running to Israel and Jordan. African migrants are frequently smuggled into Israel illegally by gangs operating in the area.
For decades, the peninsula has been a remote area neglected by the central government, which invests only in the tourism sector. Its population, mostly Bedouin tribes, has complained of discrimination and ill-treatment by security forces.
Tantawi promised Bedouin tribal leaders on Monday that the number of young people in Sinai admitted per year to military schools will be raised from 15 to 30.
Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that a sheikh who attended the inauguration of the factory told Tantawi that people of Sinai hold the army as “the dearest thing they have.”
Tantawi said that “in the war of 1956 [also known as Suez Crisis], you were the people who protected me when I was in Khan Younis. The people of Sinai hid me and saved me from the enemy. You have always supported the military.”
On Monday, Planning and International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abouelnaga approved funding for the construction of 14 ground water wells in North Sinai, a project which involves investments worth LE11 million.
The minister added that the allocations are part of a plan proposed by the Water Resources and Irrigation Ministry for the fiscal year 2012-2013, and reflect the government’s intention to meet the needs of Sinai residents.
