Source: Brookings Institute
Author(s): Hideki Matsunaga, Mayada Magdy
INTRODUCTION
Since January 2011, Egypt has been going through a turbulent period with two regimes having been toppled by mass protests. Social injustice, a widening gap between rich and poor and widespread corruption are considered to be the major reasons that took protestors to the streets.
Poor infrastructure and deteriorating public services, which are characterized by frequent power cuts, chronic traffic in Cairo and piles of garbage on the street, are said to have exacerbated public discontent with the governments of President Mubarak and President Morsi. In Egypt, decades-long low level investment resulted in underdevelopment of infrastructure and public services compared with many other emerging economies.
This does not mean that the Egyptian government has not exerted any efforts to improve the situation. On the contrary, in order to solve these problems, many strategies and plans have been formulated and numerous numbers of projects, programs and policy reforms have been proposed. According to research conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), there were at least 41 existing plans and strategies in various forms as of 2012.1
However, not only are there too many overlapping strategies in many cases, very few have been implemented to any significant degree…
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