{"id":16773,"date":"2026-07-15T14:19:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T12:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=16773"},"modified":"2026-10-24T14:57:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T12:57:33","slug":"mustaqbal-misr-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/mustaqbal-misr-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Future of Egypt Law: Expanding Powers, Uncertain Oversight"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 13 July,<\/span> the House of Representatives passed<\/span><\/a>, in its plenary session, a law granting the “Future of Egypt for Sustainable Development” Authority a one-year grace period to regularise its status, extendable for up to three years by a decision of the President of the Republic. The law redrew the legal and institutional framework of an authority that handles the files of food security, agricultural development and other strategic projects, and it drew wide criticism before it was passed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The “Future of Egypt for Sustainable Development” Authority is a government entity established by Presidential Decree No. 591 of 2022. It is affiliated with the Egyptian Air Force and is headed executively by Colonel Pilot Bahaa El-Din Mohamed El-Ghannam. It began by managing the “Future of Egypt” agricultural reclamation project, then its activities expanded to include agriculture, food security, the import of strategic commodities, food industries and real estate development, in addition to<\/span> taking control<\/span><\/a> of 40,000 ration outlets. With this expansion, questions arose about the nature of its role, the limits of its competences and the mechanisms by which it manages public assets.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The bill reorganises the status of the authority by granting it legal personality and administrative and financial independence, while setting transitional rules for transferring assets and organisational structures and issuing internal regulations, which raises questions about the limits of its competences and their impact on the management of public assets, its relationship with the ministries, and the mechanisms of oversight over its work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Future of Egypt Expands and Extends with a Legal Deed<\/b><\/h1>\n

In a<\/span> report<\/span><\/a> titled “From Bread to Land\u2026 Future of Egypt Extends Its Roots into Everything That Is Grown and Eaten”, Zawia3 revealed that the authority’s expansion had gone beyond implementing agricultural projects to managing the import of strategic commodities, foremost among them wheat and the oils allocated to the subsidy system, coinciding with the transfer of part of government procurement operations to it. The report reviewed a parliamentary briefing request concerning the differences between the import prices of wheat and oils and global prices, while experts pointed to the need to take into account transport, insurance and administrative costs when assessing these differences.<\/span><\/p>\n

In another<\/span> report<\/span><\/a> titled “After Land, Wheat and Fish.. the Future of Egypt Authority Takes Over 40,000 Ration Outlets”, Zawia3 tracked the extension of the authority’s role from agricultural reclamation and food production to import, marketing and distribution, all the way to supervising the development of around 40,000 ration outlets under the “Carry On” brand. This expansion along the entire food supply chain, from production to distribution, explains the timing of the new bill.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amr Hashem Rabie, adviser at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, believes that the bill contains unprecedented powers and exemptions that give the authority a special legal and administrative status, and that it falls within a series of exceptional laws passed by Parliament over the past decade.<\/span><\/p>\n

He explains to Zawia3 that the bill gives the President of the Republic a pivotal role in running the authority, evident in the repeated references to his competences in a large number of articles, which may give the impression that the authority enjoys political and administrative immunity that obstructs oversight of it. The multiplicity of legal references on which the bill relies, which include dozens of laws and presidential decrees, also reflects an unusual breadth in Egyptian legislation.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He points out that a number of the bill’s articles give the authority wide powers in managing sustainable development zones, establishing companies, managing assets and setting rules for investment, export and import, in addition to powers similar to the competences of some ministers and governors within those zones, which could lead to overlapping competences with existing state institutions and weaken the role of the ministries and local administrations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabie stresses that what is most worrying is the exemptions from the general laws regulating administrative and financial work, and the provisions that restrict the right to challenge some of the authority’s actions relating to assets. “Supporting development efforts does not conflict with subjecting all public institutions to effective oversight. Balance between speed of implementation, transparency, accountability and the protection of public funds is a necessity, not an option.”<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Recommended reading: <\/b>Expropriation Decision for 320 Houses in Tousoun, Alexandria, and Demolition Began Before the Lawsuit Was Decided<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

An Independent Authority\u2026 So What About the Structure of the State’s Economic Management?<\/b><\/h1>\n

In a<\/span> paper<\/span><\/a> titled “Deficient Oversight and Limitless Exemptions”, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) said that the bill reorganising the “Future of Egypt” Authority is not limited to restructuring an existing administrative entity, but establishes a legal framework that grants the authority wide and exceptional powers in managing development projects and public assets, making it one of the bills with the greatest impact on the structure of the state’s economic management in recent years.<\/span><\/p>\n

The paper considers that the bill gives the chairman of the authority’s board of directors powers that in some cases are similar to the competences of ministers and governors within sustainable development zones, and it criticises the bill’s loose wording, such as the references to “national objectives” and “sustainable development zones” without clear criteria, considering that this allows the scope of the authority’s competences to be expanded in a way that is difficult to subject to oversight.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Initiative called for publishing the decree establishing the authority and all the decisions that granted it competences, assets or land; separating its regulatory and investment powers so that it does not combine setting rules, investing and operating at the same time; requiring the approval of the House of Representatives for any transfer of state-owned assets to the authority; having the law oblige the authority to remit a specified percentage of its surpluses to the public treasury; and subjecting major contracts to competition rules and to disclosure on the government procurement portal.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Recommended reading: The Citizen Bond Promises You a 17% Return.. but Inflation Is Faster<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Transparency?<\/b><\/h1>\n

According to the draft bill seen by Zawia3, the bill establishes a new sovereign fund named the “Future of Egypt Sovereign Wealth Fund \u2013 Nile Pyramids”, alongside a service fund, “Daem”, both affiliated with the authority and enjoying technical, financial and administrative independence. The fund’s resources and funding shares are determined by a decision of the President of the Republic based on a financing programme proposed by the head of the authority, and, according to Article (46), which<\/span> was approved<\/span><\/a> by the House of Representatives, it aims to achieve sustainable economic development and to maximise the value of the funds allocated for investment for the benefit of future generations.<\/span><\/p>\n

The authority itself is reorganised as an entity with legal personality and full independence, reporting directly to the President of the Republic, with powers that include borrowing, establishing companies, managing national projects and sustainable development zones, and working in the sectors of agriculture, industry, energy, logistics, tourism and education, with the possibility of adding new activities by a decision of the board of directors. Between 7% and 10% of the sovereign fund’s real annual returns are allocated to the public treasury by a decision of the President of the Republic.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mohamed Ramadan, economic researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, believes that the most prominent problem with the bill lies in the absence of transparency since the authority’s creation. He explains to Zawia3 that the proposed law provides for the “reorganisation” of the authority, while the original decree under which it was established has not been published in a way that allows the public and researchers to learn about its competences and how they have developed, which makes assessing its role and the limits of its powers extremely difficult.<\/span><\/p>\n

He adds that the authority is not subject to traditional financial oversight mechanisms; its accounts are reviewed by an auditor, not through declared oversight by the Central Auditing Organization whose results are published periodically, which narrows the ability of Parliament and the public to follow the management of public funds and assets. He notes that the transfer of files such as wheat imports and the management of some reclaimed land to the authority raises questions about the future of the competences of the bodies that used to handle them.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Efficiency in managing public projects is not achieved merely by creating new entities. It requires strengthening the rules of transparency, disclosure and parliamentary oversight, and publishing periodic data and reports on performance and spending.”<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the<\/span> Corruption Perceptions Index<\/span><\/a> issued by Transparency International, Egypt ranked 130th globally out of 180 countries. The global average of the index is 42 points out of 100, the lowest level it has recorded in more than a decade.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Recommended reading: The Renaissance Dam Is Complete and Ethiopia Is Not Negotiating.. So What Does Egypt Have?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Traditional Executive Roles of the State<\/b><\/h1>\n

The<\/span> official data<\/span><\/a> indicate that the “Future of Egypt” Authority is responsible for: reclaiming 4.5 million feddans, building a silo complex with a capacity of 500,000 tonnes within the “New Delta” project, managing a distribution network of 1,500 retail outlets under the “Super Tawfeer” brand, livestock production with a capacity of 180,000 head a year, operating the “Sphinx” crop trading centre with a storage and trading capacity of up to 20 million tonnes, managing 12 poultry slaughterhouses, and renewable energy projects with a capacity of 2,320 megawatts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hassan El-Barbary, an economic and labour researcher, believes that the bill came to give a legal framework to a reality that already exists; for years the authority has gone beyond its original role, expanding into the import of strategic commodities, industrial projects, logistics investments and supply chain management, before any legislation regulating these competences was issued.<\/span><\/p>\n

He explains to Zawia3 that the bill reflects a tendency to turn the authority into a central economic arm of the state, at a time when the state already has major economic institutions: the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, the New Urban Communities Authority, the Industrial Development Authority, the public business sector companies and the National Service Projects Organization. He believes that gathering all these activities in a single entity raises legitimate questions about the justifications for this concentration.<\/span><\/p>\n

He points out that this expansion coincides with repeated government pledges to expand the role of the private sector and reduce the state’s presence in economic activity within the reform programme and the understandings with the International Monetary Fund, and that combining the roles of production, investment, supply and project management in a single body raises, in his view, questions about equal opportunity and competition in the market.<\/span><\/p>\n

He concludes that the competences in the bill intersect with the tasks of the ministries of supply, agriculture, investment, industry, housing and local development. “Continuing on this path could gradually lead to shrinking the traditional executive roles of some ministries, with a growing share of competences moving to the Future of Egypt Authority.”<\/span><\/p>\n

A law that grants the authority powers in agriculture, industry, energy, logistics, tourism and education, with the possibility of adding new activities by a decision of the board of directors. A new sovereign fund whose resources are determined by presidential decree. And financial oversight through an auditor, with no declared periodic publication. Three researchers who spoke to Zawia3 said the same thing: the expansion is real, and oversight is absent.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An authority affiliated with the Air Force supervises 40,000 ration outlets, energy projects of 2,320 megawatts and the reclamation of 4.5 million feddans, and its head enjoys powers similar to those of ministers and governors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":19328,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[412],"tags":[],"kateb":[728],"class_list":["post-16773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-en","kateb-shimaa-hamdy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/future-egypt-law-2026-cover.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16773"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23944,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16773\/revisions\/23944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16773"},{"taxonomy":"kateb","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kateb?post=16773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}