Arab Finance: Egypt’s Cabinet approved including a national project to restore and regulate the Nile River and its two branches as a major project in the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation’s budget for fiscal years 2026/2027 through 2028/2029, as per a statement.
The project aims to restore the river’s original watercourse by removing encroachments, including landfilling and construction, along its main channel and branches. It will also provide accurate information on the riverbed and banks to track and analyze changes affecting water flow.
That information will establish a baseline for maintaining and developing the Nile’s infrastructure and safeguarding water structures, including barrages and main canals.
Implementation will follow three tracks: preparing updated digital topographic and bathymetric maps of the riverbed and banks; surveying and cataloging public assets associated with irrigation, drainage, and land formed by river sediment deposits; and removing encroachments that obstruct water flow.
In a separate decision involving ministry-owned land, the Cabinet authorized Daqahlia Governorate to contract with the Egyptian General Company for Tourism and Hotels (EGOTH) for an investment project comprising a four-star, 155-room hotel.
Another hotel decision concerned a 30-year right-of-use license for the Port Said Hotel, formerly Helnan, to Pickalbatros Hotels and Resorts, part of the Pickalbatros Group.
On tax administration, the Cabinet cleared a 15-month contract between the Egyptian Tax Authority and consultancy firm Ernst & Young Egypt to prepare studies concerning the outputs of the core tax operations automation system. The approval took account of the company’s experience and qualifications to carry out the work.
The Cabinet also backed two draft decrees extending application deadlines for property regularization. A draft presidential decree would allow another six months for applications to regularize the status of land belonging to the state’s private domain, as the current application period approaches expiry.
A separate draft prime ministerial decree would extend the deadline for submitting applications to the relevant administrative authorities for reconciliation over certain building violations by six months, starting November 5, 2026.
The extension is intended to give applicants who could not finish the process within the original timeframe an opportunity to complete the required procedures and documentation, supporting the legislation’s objective of bringing noncompliant buildings into a legal framework.
