Egypt is divided into seven economic regions for economic and physical planning purposes. They were formally established by Presidential Decree 495/1977, which originally partitioned the country into seven economic regions, which were later reduced to seven after the Matrouh region merged with Alexandria. These regions do not have any new administrative representation in the local government hierarchy.
Instead, each region is composed of a number of contiguous governorates, with one designated as the capital of the region (that governorate's capital city).
Art. 2 established a Higher Committee for Regional Planning in each region, headed by the governor of the region's capital governorate. The committee comprises the governors, the heads of the Local Executive Councils, and the head of the national-level General Organization for Physical Planning (GOPP) as secretary-general.
Art. 3 set out a Planning Administration for each region, originally affiliated with the Ministry of Planning. In 2008, this was changed to a Regional Center for Urban Planning and Development affiliated to the GOPP. However, it was later believed that planning based on these units was unrealistic, thus decentralisation efforts were put in place.
Economic region Area (km2) Population (2015) GDP (billion EGP) GDP (billion US$) Greater Cairo 17,342 21,969,529 2,986.037 190.211 Alexandria 224,076 11,064,294 970.284 61.807 Suez Canal 90,020 9,555,718 902.566 57.493 Delta 12,357 19,145,755 886.439 56.467 South Upper Egypt 216,212 10,573,686 386.923 24.647 North Upper Egypt 47,970 11,183,684 351.674 22.402 Central Upper Egypt 402,431 4,470,631 143.106 9.116 1,010,408 94,798.827 6,627.028 422.142
Economic regions
There are seven regional units, containing the following governorates. In 2014, there were discussions to expand them to eleven regions, but those plans never happened.
The current structure is as follows: Economic RegionGovernoratesCapitalGreater CairoCairo, Giza, QalyubiyyaCairoAlexandriaAlexandria, Beheira, MatrouhAlexandriaDeltaDakahlia, Damietta, Gharbia, Kafr El Sheikh, MonufiaTantaSuez CanalIsmailia, North Sinai, Port Said, Sharqia, Suez, South SinaiIsmailiaNorth Upper EgyptBeni Suef, Faiyum, MinyaMinyaCentral Upper EgyptAsyut, New ValleyAsyutSouth Upper EgyptAswan, Luxor, Qena, Red Sea, SohagAswan
Gallery
See also Economy of Egypt Local Government of Egypt Subdivisions of Egypt
References
Further reading Outcomes of Strategic Urban Development- Greater Cairo Region In Arab Republic of Egypt The World Bank - Arab Republic of Egypt Urban Sector Update.pdf - June, 2008