CABINET WATCH- Cabinet finally approves Real Estate Registry Act: The Madbouly Cabinet approved yesterday amendments to the Real Estate Registry Act that would speed up procedures for citizens to register properties, according to a cabinet statement. The House of Representatives has been consistently nagging the Council of Ministers to introduce the bill, particularly after House speaker Ali Abdel Aal criticized real estate registry offices and said many citizens defer from registering their properties due to the difficult procedures and the high costs. The cabinet argued that red tape, not fees, is the main problem and amended the act to speed up the process. Under the proposed amendments, registration applications would be given a temporary code that automatically becomes permanent if uncontested within one month.

Also approved during the weekly meeting:

• A USD 2.9 mn grant from South Korea to create an intellectual property database that enable online patent applications and access to patent information;
• Funding of EUR 120 mn from the European Investment Bank to develop a wastewater treatment plant in Alexandria.
• A cooperation protocol between the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) to settle the financial disputes between the two by having the EEHC and its subsidiaries reschedule the debt they owe to the state oil company;
• A cooperation protocol between state-owned enterprises, public electricity companies, and EGPC to drop interest and fines they owe each other, and settle their debts.