In his speech at the first conference for the development of the Suez Canal region Monday, Dr. Walid Abdel-Ghaffar, Chairman of the Technical Secretariat of the development project, said: "This development project will be the locomotive of the Egyptian economy, as confirmed by the World Bank and various international economic institutions.

"This project is not new. It was initiated by the former Minister of Housing, but its implementation was delayed for years, for many reasons, the most important of which was the bureaucracy – excessive red tape in the old administrative system, which has been overcome now."