Egypt will put 34 companies up for sale

The Egyptian Minister of Public Works Dr. Atef Ebeid said that the government intends to put up for sale 34 public sector companies before the end of the current year. He added that other companies will be also put up for sale next year, in addition to 65 companies in 1999 and 84 companies in the year 2000, which is the last year of privatization.

Dr. Ebeid mentioned that the proceeds from the sold companies till now is LE 5 billion ($15 billion) and the ministry expects the total proceeds to reach LE 8 billion ($ 25 billion).

The minister added that the government is applying some reforms to the financial frameworks of these companies in order to reduce their debts to an acceptable level. He agreed on redistributing the workers so that when these companies are put up for sale there will not be any problem regarding the workers.

The director of the Housing, Cinema and Tourism Holding company mentioned that the government plans to modernize 6 international airports in addition to 11 domestic airports. He added that the government is trying to legislate new laws in the field of tourist investment, and that the performance of public services will improve if the amount allocated for that sector reached LE 220 million.