Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly held a meeting today to review development of the Great Transfiguration site in Saint Catherine, as part of regular meetings and visits to monitor the project’s components.
Attendees included Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy; Religious Endowments Minister Osama El-Azhari; Culture Minister Ahmed Hanno; Higher Education and Scientific Research Minister Ayman Ashour; former antiquities minister Mamdouh El-Damaty; South Sinai Governor Khaled Mubarak; Al-Azhar Deputy Mohamed El-Duwaini; Supreme Council of Antiquities Secretary-General Mohamed Ismail; Major General Ashraf El-Araby of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority; Islam Abu El-Magd, acting head of the National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences; council sector head Gamal Mostafa; and officials from relevant agencies.
Madbouly emphasized President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s attention to the project and regular monitoring of its progress, given the site’s sacred importance as the place where God spoke to Moses, peace be upon him.
He said numerous tourism, development and service projects are being implemented to improve services in this unique area. They include upgrading the tourism zone, establishing a mountain hotel, a new visitor center, an administrative complex and the new Al-Zaytouna residential district, as well as Peace Square and its building, Wadi El-Deir and the Bedouin housing area.
Works also cover utility networks, road widening and dual carriageways, and improvements to Saint Catherine International Airport, preparing the area to welcome more tourists and make better use of its assets.
The prime minister stressed the importance of education and awareness about the blessed site and further efforts to revive its spiritual and religious significance for the three Abrahamic faiths.
Cabinet spokesperson Mohamed El-Homosany said the meeting reviewed the project’s latest progress. Average overall completion across its components had reached 90%, with efforts under way to finish the remaining works and bring them into service as soon as possible.
Detailed progress was reviewed for the new visitor center, Peace Square, new eco-lodge, mountain hotel, administrative complex and Al-Zaytouna residential area. Other works include upgrading the existing eco-lodge, tourism zone, Wadi El-Deir, Bedouin housing and heritage town center, alongside replacing water lines, upgrading electricity networks and access roads, and flood-protection measures.
Madbouly also directed preparations to begin for the projects’ opening celebration, supporting tourism promotion and attracting new visitors, according to the Egyptian Cabinet’s official Facebook page.
