LEGISLATION WATCH- New Railway Act now in effect: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi signed into law yesterday amendments to the Railway Act that would allow private sector participation in developing, managing, and operating railway projects, Youm7 reports. The House of Representatives had signed off on the act early last month. The Transport Ministry is reportedly already moving to decide which railway assets it will tender to private sector management and plans to establish companies for each railway line that will be run by private players, sources had said.

Also yesterday, El Sisi ratified penal code amendments that set the death penalty as punishment for use of explosives in terror attacks, according to the state-run MENA. Both laws were published in the Official Gazette.

In other legislative news, the House’s Planning and Budgeting Committee began yesterday its discussion of the Unified Planning Act, according to Al Mal . The bill would set a framework for the state to regulate the planning and execution of national projects based on their merit, costs, and sources of funding. The draft law is meant to lay the groundwork for the decentralization of local administration and means to complement the Local Administration Act, said Planning Minister Hala El Said, who sat in on yesterday’s session.