Egypt to channel $15.4 bln for Sinai development

CAIRO

Egypt plans to allocate $15.4 billion to carry out investment projects in the restive Sinai Peninsula, the country’s planning minister said Tuesday.

"There is a high priority for development of the Sinai Peninsula and Upper Egypt,” Hala al-Saeed said in a statement.

Al-Saeed said fish farms are planned to be established in Sinai, as well as building roads, housing units, hospitals, schools and a university.

The minister, however, did not give any details about the sources of funding for the planned Sinai projects.

Sinai has remained the epicenter of a deadly militant insurgency since mid-2013 when Mohamed Morsi -- Egypt’s first freely-elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader -- was ousted in a military coup.

Since then, hundreds of Egyptian security personnel have been killed in militant attacks across the volatile peninsula.