Two of the big themes of 2022 — climate and the economy — featured on the airwaves last night following the deadline of the Smart Green Governorates initiative and ahead of the Central Bank of Egypt’s policy meeting later this week.

BUT FIRST- We’ll soon know which companies will be redeveloping the NDP HQ: The Sovereign Wealth Fund of Egypt (SFE) will announce the winner of the contract to redevelop the former National Democratic Party headquarters “in the coming weeks,” SFE head Ayman Soliman told Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi last night (watch, runtime: 10:50). It remains unknown which companies are vying for the project, though Soliman said in December that five consortiums were interested in submitting bids. Bidding for the tender closed at the end of June.

More macro + policy analysis: Economist Medhat Nafea made his second appearance on the airwaves in two days, joining Ala Mas’ouleety to discuss central bank independence and the upcoming economic conference (watch, runtime: 3:06 | 3:30). The Central Bank of Egypt’s monetary policy “hasn’t been successful” in recent years due to “conflicting” decisions, Nafea said, stressing the importance of maintaining central bank independence. Meanwhile, former prime minister Hazem El Beblawy was back to warn about Egypt’s rising debt levels and called on policymakers to control it (watch, runtime: 7:16).

The expiration of yesterday’s deadline for the Planning Ministry’s Smart Green Governorates initiative got coverage from Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 1:39). The initiative, which will map green projects nationwide, gives prospective green projects a platform to raise investments at COP27 in November. The 5.4k submitted bids will be whittled down to 18, which will be presented at the summit in November, El Hadidi said. Emad El Din Adly, the head of the Egyptian Sustainable Development Forum (ESDF) and a member of the jury for the initiative, phoned in to the show to discuss the process (watch, runtime: 6:29).