The Environment Ministry is drafting legislation that would create a national authority for natural protectorates, Environment Minister Yasmin Fouad said yesterday, Al Mal reports. The ministry intends to tender off 30 protectorates to be developed and managed by the private sector, with the first batch set to include Wadi Degla, the Petrified Forest, and Ras Muhammad. The contracts will likely be awarded on a usufruct (right-to-use) basis, spanning five or 10 years. This move appears to be part of the ministry’s ongoing plan to develop natural protectorates, which saw it allocate EGP 70 mn to the project in May. On a separate note, the minister said that work was ongoing to draft a proposal that would see garbage collection fees on electricity bills rise to EGP 28 a month, up from a current EGP 4.

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