Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, and Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Hala El Said, witnessed the signing of a new protocol to finance natural gas connection projects, the ministry of petroleum said in a statement.

The protocol comes in the framework of the Decent Life ‘Haya Karima’ project to develop Egyptian villages.

The financing protocol was signed by Ahmed Kamali, Undersecretary for the Ministry of Planning, and Magdy Galal, Chairman of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS).

The total cost of the first phase of the project to connect the natural gas grid to 4 million housing units in the targeted villages was estimated at over EGP 17 billion, EL Said pointed out.

The signed protocol regulates the mechanism of pumping the funding and financial resources required to implement the infrastructure projects necessary to deliver natural gas to the residential units in the villages of the Decent Life Initiative, which helps speed up its implementation according to the target timelines, El Molla noted.

The oil and gas sector is currently working on implementing natural gas delivery networks to 1,413 villages in the first phase of the initiative, which will lead to providing a civilized service to the people of the villages and removing the burdens of handling and using butane cylinders, El Molla added.