El Sherbiny: All our capabilities in various sectors will be ready for the benefit of our brothers in Equatorial Guinea.
Ready to contribute to the establishment of an authority or office for urban planning and architectural design in Equatorial Guinea...and to cooperate in housing projects.
Our Egyptian companies have gained extensive experience in the past years, and we welcome cooperation with our brothers in Equatorial Guinea in implementing the housing project (100,000 housing units).
Equatorial Guinean Minister: We look forward to benefiting from your expertise, and we would like the Egyptian side to help us in the modern authorities that we will establish and, most importantly, obtain Egyptian expertise and training.
We have a national project to build "100,000 housing units," and we hope to gain the support of the Egyptian side from the beginning of the project, the idea, the design, then implementation, and even delivery.
During his current visit to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Eng. Sherif El Sherbiny - Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, and Mr. Clemente Ferreiro Villarino - Minister of State for Public Works and Urban Planning—held an expanded discussion session in the capital, Malabo, in the presence of officials from the two countries and the Egyptian Ambassador to Malabo, Haddad Abdel Tawab El-Gohary, to discuss a number of joint cooperation files between Egypt and Equatorial Guinea and the exchange of expertise.
At the beginning of the meeting, Eng. Sherif El Sherbiny - Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, thanked the Equatorial Guinean side for extending the invitation to visit Malabo, and invited Mr. Clemente Ferreiro Villarino - Minister of Public Works and Urban Planning, to visit Egypt, stressing the importance of the participation of delegations from the Ministry of Public Works in Equatorial Guinea in the events and exhibitions organized by the Egyptian Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, as well as learning about the Egyptian urban experience, noting that the assistant supervisor of the Minister’s office has been designated as the official responsible for communicating with the Equatorial Guinean side.
The minister explained that there is a strong relationship between the leaderships of the two countries, and therefore work must be done to enhance and develop the frameworks of cooperation between the two countries, especially since our ministries have a broad role and tasks in development in the two countries.
Eng. Sherif El Sherbiny explained the tasks of the Ministry of Housing and the roles played by each sector, starting with the Urban Planning Authority, which has extensive roles in urban planning and updating strategic plans, stressing our readiness to contribute to establishing an authority or office for urban planning and architectural design in Equatorial Guinea, and providing human cadres to train our brothers from Equatorial Guinea, whether in Malabo or in Cairo, on the mechanisms of the work of that authority and its specialization, and sending Egyptian experts for a period to be agreed upon to Malabo to establish the office/authority in Equatorial Guinea.
The Minister also listed the boom achieved by the Egyptian state in the housing sector, whether social or medium, and others, noting that millions of units have been implemented for different income groups, and our Egyptian companies have gained extensive experience in this sector in the past years, welcoming cooperation with our brothers in Equatorial Guinea in implementing the housing project (100,000 housing units) in several stages in various Equatorial Guinean cities, expressing his desire to learn about the details of this ambitious project, and his readiness to participate with the Equatorial Guinean side to implement it through an Egyptian JV under the supervision of the Egyptian Ministry of Housing, which includes the largest Egyptian public and private contracting companies, and it is possible to start building a number of units in this project as a model that can be generalized.
The Minister of Housing presented the Egyptian experience in developing unsafe areas, and how the Egyptian state was able to mobilize its efforts to end this crisis and transfer the residents of these areas to planned, civilized housing projects that enjoy services, stressing the ministry’s readiness to cooperate in this important file, and to transfer the experience to our brothers in Equatorial Guinea.
The Minister also explained the role and tasks of the New Urban Communities Authority, and the great progress in implementing new cities at the highest level, smart, sustainable cities that enjoy distinguished services, as well as the cities that the state has implemented across the country since its inception in the late 70s, stressing at the same time the Ministry’s readiness to share its expertise in this file.
El Sherbiny explored the role of the ministry’s utilities sector in providing drinking water and sanitation services, as well as operation and maintenance work, to preserve investments, in addition to the supervisory and regulatory role of this sector’s services.
The Minister of Housing explained the national projects carried out by the Central Agency for Reconstruction, at the level of the Republic, as well as the revitalization projects and others, in addition to reviewing the role of the research authorities affiliated with the Ministry, such as the Housing and Building National Research Center, and others, stressing that all our capabilities in various sectors will be ready for the benefit of our brothers in Equatorial Guinea.
Mr. Clemente Ferreiro Villarino - Minister of State for Public Works and Urban Planning of Equatorial Guinea, welcomed the Egyptian Minister of Housing and his accompanying delegation and conveyed the greetings of the President of the Republic and the Vice President.
Mr. Clemente Ferreiro Villarino said, Our goal is the cooperation between the two ministries to be one of the most important basic links between the two countries. The Ministry of Housing, Roads and Public Works is always the main driver of development in our countries. We will start cooperation together to benefit our two countries, and we will document the cooperation by signing a memorandum of understanding between the two countries, the Director General of the Ministry will be a point of contact to facilitate any matters at any time.
The Equatorial Guinean Minister added, We look forward to benefiting from your expertise, and we would like the Egyptian side to help us in the modern authorities that we will establish, and most importantly, to obtain Egyptian expertise and training in the workplace, saying, I insist that Egypt have experts in Equatorial Guinea as assistants to us, to train our cadres and technicians, and also for newly graduated engineers to go for training in Egypt.
Mr. Clemente Ferreiro Villarino - Minister of State for Public Works and Urban Planning of Equatorial Guinea, explained that the vision of the President and Vice President is currently to build housing units for our citizens, and we have a national project to build "100,000 housing units", and we aspire to have support from the Egyptian side from the beginning of the project, the idea and design, then implementation, and until delivery, and that the project will be under the supervision of the ministry, pointing out that this project will be preceded by stages of implementing the infrastructure and various facilities, and therefore we preferred to seek assistance and request the expertise of a large country like Egypt, and there is a directive from the Vice President to import Egyptian raw materials to implement the units, that he saw the implemented units and was impressed during his recent visit to Egypt.
He added, we are ready to start implementing 200 housing units as a model in one of the governorates, including 100 low-cost units, 50 for middle-income people, and 50 luxury housing.
The Equatorial Guinean Minister said, we are also in the process of building a “New Administrative City,” and we need to have diverse housing models.
Eng. Sherif El Sherbiny confirmed the ministry's full readiness to implement what the Equatorial Guinean Minister requested, pointing out that the ministry's Central Agency for Reconstruction will supervise the implementation of what is agreed upon, and we have ready contracting companies, headed by Arab Contractors, and we will begin preparing a plan for the area, as well as the various designs.