Presidential Decree 495/1977 divided Egypt into eight (later seven after Matrouh was merged into Alexandria) economic regions for economic and physical planning purposes, that do not have any new administrative representation in the local government hierarchy. [1]
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Instead, each region is composed of a number of contiguous governorates, with one declared as capital of the region (that governorate's capital city).
Art. 2 established a HigherCommittee for Regional Planning in each region, headed by the governor of that region's capital, and comprising the governors, heads of the Local Executive Councils, and the head of the national-level General Organization for Physical Planning as secretary general.
Art. 3 set out a Planning Administration for each region that is affiliated to the Ministry of (Economic) Planning. In 2008 this was changed to a Regional Center for Urban Planning and Development affiliated to the GOPP. [2] However, it was believed that planning based on these units was unrealistic thus decentralization efforts were put in place. [3]
| Economic region | Area (km2) | Population (2015) | GDP (billion EGP) [4] | GDP (billion US$) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Cairo | 17,342 | 21,969,529 | 2,986.037 | 190.211 |
| Alexandria | 224,076 | 11,064,294 | 970.284 | 61.807 |
| Suez Canal | 90,020 | 9,555,718 | 902.566 | 57.493 |
| Delta | 12,357 | 19,145,755 | 886.439 | 56.467 |
| South Upper Egypt | 216,212 | 10,573,686 | 386.923 | 24.647 |
| North Upper Egypt | 47,970 | 11,183,684 | 351.674 | 22.402 |
| Central Upper Egypt | 402,431 | 4,470,631 | 143.106 | 9.116 |
 Egypt | 1,010,408 | 94,798.827 | 6,627.028 | 422.142 |
