This report assesses Egypt’s current practices in infrastructure governance and delivery against OECD standards and international benchmarks. It also recommends new reforms to help Egypt build on its existing reform programme to continue delivering infrastructure and services that people need, while operating within tight fiscal constraints. The recommendations in this report support the country’s green goals and the ambition to create a more attractive infrastructure market for private investors, and will help Egypt address the challenge of delivering adequate public services while creating fiscal space to tackle other priorities.
The 2024 OECD Economic Survey of Egypt describes how, in the face of major external shocks, growth in Egypt had until recently held up better than in neighbouring countries. However, growth slowed in 2022 as inflation surged, significant capital outflows occurred, and financing conditions are expected to remain tight for some time. In response, in February 2024 the Government curtailed its significant programme of public investment. The Survey nonetheless recommended reviewing the efficiency of public investment projects and rationalising infrastructure projects to reduce public debt and create the fiscal space to fund priorities in health and education. The Survey also noted that these current challenges may harm investor confidence and undermine Egypt’s ambitious goals to attract private investment to its infrastructure markets.
As the Economic Survey states, Egypt is highly vulnerable to the adverse consequences of climate change on people, nature and infrastructure. Egypt also has enormous potential to contribute to the clean energy transition due to its vast solar resources, which means infrastructure can make a significant contribution to achieving Egypt’s climate goals. In 2021, renewables accounted for just under 6% of Egypt’s total energy supply and for about 12% of electricity generation. Egypt’s Nationally Determined Contributions set an ambitious target of achieving 42% of electricity generation from renewable energy sources by 2030, supported by investment in grids and transmission networks and large energy storage systems to accommodate and strengthen the network
Egypt has demonstrated its commitment to addressing these challenges. It has undertaken several reforms in infrastructure planning, public financial management, project monitoring and public procurement that will enable more efficient and effective infrastructure spending and provide a longer-term view of investment intentions. This should help improve investor confidence and more closely align Egypt’s practices with OECD standards. This report also provides guidance for taking these reforms further.
It also provides advice and guidance on infrastructure operations and maintenance, equally important for achieving efficient, effective investment outcomes. Good operations and maintenance practices allow countries to deliver infrastructure networks and assets that can perform efficiently and deliver desired levels of service across the operational life, which can last decades or even centuries. The guidance also includes a checklist for assessing the feasibility of infrastructure proposals to ensure that line ministries have made appropriate asset management arrangements.
This report also assesses Egypt’s performance with respect to OECD standards in infrastructure governance, the principles of public procurement and the principles of public governance of public-private partnerships. It focuses on Egypt’s strategic vision, land use and financial planning, stakeholder engagement, project selection and prioritisation, public procurement, the use of public-private partnerships and the operations and maintenance of infrastructure.
This report was undertaken within the OECD-Egypt Country Programme (ECP). As part of this programme, the OECD has been tasked to review Egypt's Infrastructure Governance and Delivery Frameworks, referred to as Project 5.8 in the ECP. The Egyptian Government has acknowledged the need to strengthen its planning capacity and co-ordination for infrastructure projects, as well as adopt tools to assess value for money over the lifecycle of infrastructure assets to ensure that investments benefit users and society at large.
With these aspirations in mind, project 5.8 of the ECP reviews the governance and delivery frameworks applied to infrastructure at the national level. Project 5.8 is closely linked with other projects in the ECP, including a review of good practices for quality infrastructure investment and capacity building for mobilising finance for infrastructure (5.7), supporting the development of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (1.8) and a review of State-owned enterprise (SOE) procurement frameworks and benchmarking with government contracting in specific sectors or specific priority SOEs (3.4).