Mediterranean Network for the Promotion of Sustainable Urban
Development Strategies and three new UDS
(USUDS)
Project Ref. Number: I-B/1.3/406
Development Strategies for Mashreq Countries
Prepared by
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The 2007-2013 ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme is a multilateral CrossBorder Cooperation initiative funded by the European Neighbourhood and Partnership
Instrument (ENPI). The Programme objective is to promote the sustainable and harmonious
cooperation process at the Mediterranean Basin level by dealing with the common challenges
and enhancing its endogenous potential. It finances cooperation projects as a contribution to
the economic, social, environmental and cultural development of the Mediterranean region.
The following 14 countries participate in the Programme: Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece,
Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Palestine, Portugal, Spain, Syria (participation currently
suspended), Tunisia. The Joint Managing Authority (JMA) is the Autonomous Region of
Sardinia (Italy). Official Programme languages are Arabic, English and French.
This publication has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union under
the ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme. The contents of this document are the
sole responsibility of USUDS Network and can under no circumstances be regarded as
reflecting the position of the European Union or of the Programme‟s management structures.
“The European Union is made up of 28 Member States who have decided to gradually link
together their know-how, resources and destinies. Together, during a period of enlargement
of 50 years, they have built a zone of stability, democracy and sustainable development whilst
maintaining cultural diversity, tolerance and individual freedoms. The European Union is
committed to sharing its achievements and its values with countries and peoples beyond its
borders”.
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Index
Contents
Executive summary ............................................................................................................................................... 7
Development Strategies ..................................................................................................................................... 11
1- Development Strategies................................................................................................................................. 12
1.1- Objective of the Study ................................................................................................................................. 13
1.2- Scope of the Study ...................................................................................................................................... 14
Development Strategies for Mashreq Countries ............................................................................................. 15
2- Development Strategies for Lebanon/ Al-Fayhaa Urban Community ..................................................... 17
2.1- Al-Fayhaa Urban Community..................................................................................................................... 17
2.2- Al Fayhaa Sustainable Development Strategy........................................................................................ 17
2.2.1- Time frame of Al Fayhaa Sustainable Development Strategy................................................... 17
2.2.2- Experts and Stakeholders ............................................................................................................... 18
2.2.3- Partners and Sponsors .................................................................................................................... 19
2.2.4- Strategic Priorities ............................................................................................................................ 19
2.2.5- Strategic Tracks ................................................................................................................................ 20
2.2.6- Emerging Strategic Projects ........................................................................................................... 20
2.2.7- Monitoring and Evaluation............................................................................................................... 23
2.2.8- The need to update the strategy .................................................................................................... 25
2.2.9- Financing the Strategy ..................................................................................................................... 25
2.2.10- Implementation Stages of the Strategic Projects ...................................................................... 26
3- Strategic Development Plan of Danniyeh Region ...................................................................................... 29
3.1- Dannieh Municipalities Union..................................................................................................................... 29
3.2- Sustainable Development Strategy of Dannieh ...................................................................................... 29
3.2.1- Time Frame of Sustainable Development Strategy of Dannieh ........................................................ 29
3.2.2- Experts and stakeholders ........................................................................................................................ 29
3.2.3- Partners and Sponsors ............................................................................................................................ 30
3.2.4- Strategic Priorities .................................................................................................................................... 30
3.2.5- Emerging Strategic Projects ................................................................................................................... 32
3.2.6- The need to update the Strategy ........................................................................................................... 37
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3.2.7- Strategy Funding ...................................................................................................................................... 38
3.2.8- Implementation Stages of the Strategic Projects ................................................................................ 38
4-
Karak City Development Strategy ......................................................................................................... 41
4.1- Time Frame of the Strategy ....................................................................................................................... 41
4.2- Experts and Stakeholders .......................................................................................................................... 41
4.3- Partners and Sponsors ............................................................................................................................... 42
4.4- Strategic Priorities and Objectives ............................................................................................................ 42
4.5- Strategic Projects ......................................................................................................................................... 43
4.6- Performance Indicators ............................................................................................................................... 47
4.7- Monitoring, Follow up and Evaluation....................................................................................................... 48
4.8-The need to update Karak city development strategy:............................................................................ 48
4.9- Funding sources for Karak city development strategy: .......................................................................... 48
4.10- Implementation stages of the strategic projects: .................................................................................. 49
5-
Mafraq City Development Strategy ....................................................................................................... 52
5.1- Time Frame of the Strategy ....................................................................................................................... 52
5.2- Experts and stakeholders ........................................................................................................................... 53
5.3- Partners and Sponsors ............................................................................................................................... 54
5.4- Mafraq Strategic Priorities and Objectives ............................................................................................... 54
5.5- The Strategic projects: ................................................................................................................................ 54
5.6- Performance Indicators ............................................................................................................................... 57
5.7- Monitoring, Follow up and Evaluation....................................................................................................... 58
5.8- The need to update Mafraq City Development Strategy ....................................................................... 58
5.9- Funding Sources .......................................................................................................................................... 59
5.10- Implementation Stages of the Strategic Projects.................................................................................. 59
6- Development Strategies for Palestine / Al-Khalil city Development Strategy ........................................ 63
6.1- Al Khalil.......................................................................................................................................................... 63
6.2- Strategic Development Plan of Al-Khalil City .......................................................................................... 63
6.2.1- Time Frame of the Strategy .................................................................................................................... 63
6.2.2- Experts, Stakeholders and Partners ...................................................................................................... 64
6.2.3- Strategic Priorities and Directions .......................................................................................................... 64
6.2.4- Strategic Projects ..................................................................................................................................... 65
6.2.5- Performance Indicators ........................................................................................................................... 68
6.2.6- Monitoring, evaluation and update of the strategy .............................................................................. 69
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6.2.7- The need to update the strategy ............................................................................................................ 69
6.2.8- Implementation Stages of the Strategic Projects ................................................................................ 69
7-
Izmir Regional Innovation Strategy ...................................................................................................... 73
7.1 Izmir ................................................................................................................................................................. 73
7.2- Izmir Regional Innovation Strategy ........................................................................................................... 73
7.2.1 Experts and stakeholders ......................................................................................................................... 73
7.2.2- Partners and Sponsors ............................................................................................................................ 75
7.2.3- Strategic Priorities and Projects ............................................................................................................. 75
7.2.4 Monitoring, Evaluation and Performance Indicators ............................................................................ 85
7.2.5- Implementation Stages of Strategic Projects ....................................................................................... 86
7.2.6- Updating the Strategy of Izmir Municipality .......................................................................................... 86
7.2.7 Time Frame of Izmir Municipality Strategy ............................................................................................ 86
7.2.8- Strategic Sectors and objectives ............................................................................................................ 87
8- Alexandria Governorate Development Strategy ......................................................................................... 95
8.1- Alexandria ..................................................................................................................................................... 95
8.2.1- Time Frame of the Strategy .................................................................................................................... 95
8.2.2- Experts, Stakeholders and Partners ...................................................................................................... 95
8.2.3- Sponsors .................................................................................................................................................... 98
8.2.4- Strategic Priorities .................................................................................................................................... 98
8.2.5 Strategic Dimensions of Alexandria Development Strategy ............................................................... 99
8.2.6- Strategic Projects and Performance Indicators ................................................................................. 102
8.2.7- The need to update the Strategy ......................................................................................................... 105
8.2.8- Funding Sources..................................................................................................................................... 105
9- Cairo Governorate Development Strategy ................................................................................................ 107
9.1- Cairo ............................................................................................................................................................ 107
9.2- Cairo Governorate Development Strategy ............................................................................................. 107
9.2.1- Time frame of the strategy .................................................................................................................... 107
9.2.2- Experts and partners.............................................................................................................................. 107
9.2.3- Strategic Priorities .................................................................................................................................. 107
9.2.4 The emerging strategic projects ............................................................................................................ 109
9.2.5- The need to update the Strategy ......................................................................................................... 110
10 Larnaca City Development Strategy ......................................................................................................... 113
10.1- Larnaca ..................................................................................................................................................... 113
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10.2- Larnaca Urban Sustainable Development Strategy ........................................................................... 113
10.2.1- Time frame of the strategy .................................................................................................................. 113
10.2.2- Experts and stakeholders ................................................................................................................... 113
10.2.3- Partners and Sponsors ........................................................................................................................ 114
10.2.4- Strategic Options &Tracks .................................................................................................................. 114
10.2.5- Strategic Goals and Emanating Projects .......................................................................................... 114
10.2.6- Monitoring and Implementation .......................................................................................................... 123
10.2.7- Funding Sources .................................................................................................................................. 124
11-
Strategies for Mashreq Cities ............................................................................................................... 126
12-
The Impact of City Development Strategies ...................................................................................... 126
13-
Donors and Supporters ......................................................................................................................... 127
14-
Sponsors and supporters at the international, national and local levels ....................................... 129
15-
Donors‟ orientations and actual position toward financing development strategic projects ....... 130
16-
Orientations of Mashreq Cities towards Strategic Development .................................................... 131
17-
Cities willing to build development strategies .................................................................................... 132
18-
Problems and challenges facing the working teams preparing the development strategies ..... 133
19-
Role played by the Knowledge Transfer Center (KTC) ................................................................... 134
20-
The Results ............................................................................................................................................. 137
References.......................................................................................................................................................... 140
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Executive summary
This report is a result of the project USUDS on Urban Sustainable Development Strategies in
the Mediterranean, framed under MedCities, a network of Mediterranean coastal cities
created in Barcelona in November 1991 in order to bring together Mediterranean towns and
cities belonging to different countries and promote urban sustainable development as a way
to improve living conditions in the region.
The objective of the USUDS project is to promote sustainable development and social
cohesion in Mediterranean Cities by using urban sustainable development strategies. And this
project aims to promote a network for cities interested in building and implementing urban
sustainable development strategies in addition to developing three strategies in the cities of
Sousse (Tunisia), Larnaca (Cyprus) and Saida (Lebanon). Moreover, the USUDS Project has
established three Knowledge Transfer Centers based in the cities of Málaga (Spain), Al
Fayhaa (Lebanon) and Sfax (Tunisia). These three cities were asked to perform a specific
study to analyze the development strategies in the Mediterranean cities. And the terms of
reference to carry out these studies were set through a contract with an expert in urban
strategic planning.
This study represents the analysis of a number of development strategies for Mediterranean
countries, including Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt and Turkey. The study focuses on the
analysis of the following development strategies:
-
Al Fayhaa Sustainable Development strategy, Lebanon.
Strategic Development Plan of Dannieh Region, Lebanon.
Karak City Development Strategy, Jordan.
Mafraq City Development Strategy, Jordan.
Al Khalil City Development Strategy, Palestine.
Alexandria Governorate Development strategy, Egypt.
Cairo Governorate Development Strategy, Egypt.
Larnaca Strategic Plan for Sustainable Development, Cyprus
Izmir Creativity and Innovation Strategy, Turkey.
It is worth mentioning that these development strategies have been chosen according
to certain criteria, including:


The availability of strategies, the integration of information and the easy access to
them, such as Mafraq city development strategy, Al-Fayhaa development strategy,
Karak city development strategy, and Al-Khalil development strategy.
The existence of exceptional circumstances for these cities, and their impact on the
need to update the development strategies, such as, Mafraq City development
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


strategy and Al-Fayhaa development strategy, which suffer from the influx of Syrian
refugees, and its impact on refugees and on host communities alike.
The importance and size of the city, like Cairo city development strategy, capital of
Egypt, the strategy of Al Fayhaa, capital of north Lebanon, and the development
strategic plan of Alexandria, due to its strategic location, and its leadership in the
adoption of the concept of development strategies Mashreq cities.
The direct choice: like Al-Fayhaa development strategy, as they are the owners of
the project
The analysis herein includes a number of axes and indicators related to the
development strategies of these cities, and they are as follows:
-



Time frame of the development strategies.
Experts and stakeholders.
Partners and sponsors
Strategic priorities
Strategic Projects
Monitoring and evaluation
The need to update the strategies
Financing the strategies
Implementation stages of the strategic projects
This study refers to the recent experience of Mashreq cities in the adoption of
development strategies, as most of these strategies have been launched between
2004 and 2014: the strategy of Alexandria in 2004, the strategies of Al Khalil and
Cairo in 2008, the strategy of Al Fayhaa in 2011, the strategies of Danniyeh, Karak,
Mafraq , and Izmir in 2012, and the strategy of Larnaca in 2014.
All development strategies have been built in partnership with all the components of
the local communities, representing the public and private sector, civil society
organizations, associations, unions, universities, industry and trade chambers,
executive boards, advisory boards, and citizens.
Many of these strategies were build with technical, consultative and financial
support of a number of major international, national and local authorities, as follows:
• At the international level:
* World Bank.
* Cities Alliance.
* Development Program of the United Nations.
• At the national level, through the ministries and specialized units, such as:
* Ministry of Interior and Municipalities, Lebanon.
* Ministry of Municipalities, Jordan.
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* Ministry of Housing and Urban Societies, Egypt.
* General Authority for Urban Planning, Egypt.
* Cities and villages Development Bank, Jordan.
• At the local level:
* Municipalities
• All development strategies herein include outputs represented by a number of strategic
goals and priorities that support the vision of the city and enhance its advantages and
strengths, and treat many of the weaknesses, and investment opportunities.
• The development strategies herein generated a set of strategic projects that have been
adopted according to the standard needs and priorities, in a way to positively affect the lives
of citizens, alleviate poverty and unemployment, and ensure improved services; and it has
been taken into account to implement these projects on the medium, short and long term.
• Some development strategies have the ability to address international organizations to
obtain the necessary funding needed to implement strategic projects such as the Urban
Community of Al Fayhaa.
• Most of the development strategies herein need to be updated for several reasons,
including:
• Changes in the internal environment, especially the demographic change resulting from
the influx of Syrian refugee to neighboring countries, and its impact on municipalities and
communities and the pressure on the services, the infrastructure, and the employment
opportunities; and this applies to the Urban Community Al Fayhaa and Dannieh region in
Lebanon, and to the city of Mafraq in Jordan.
• Changes in the political, economic and social conditions, such as the strategy of
Alexandria Governorate, the strategy of Cairo governorate, in addition to the occupation
and settlements conditions in the city of Al Khalil.
• Evaluation and achievement of results, as the performance indicators are among the
basic requirements to build development strategies and subsequent monitoring and
evaluation; and as the results of the implementation reports provide an indication of the
success of strategies and the achievement of results on one hand, and the need to
update these strategies on the other hand.
• This report presents a set of recommendations regarding the development strategies as
follows:

To raise awareness at the level of governments, local authorities and municipal
councils of the importance of development strategies, and to show how they
represent the first step toward achieving sustainable development.
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





To benefit from the experience of cities and states that achieved remarkable
success in strategies development.
To emphasize the successful implementation of development strategies, and to
prevent placing them in the government and municipal drawers; hence the local
development units, project management units, and the international cooperation
must be activated in these municipalities to control and monitor the implementation
of these development strategies.
To ensure effective leadership and coordination between the municipality, the
governorate authority, the executive bodies and the local community organizations,
to guarantee the successful implementation of the strategies.
To connect and make genuine partnership with the private sector, to make it
participate effectively in the development strategy, and to highlight its social
responsibility towards society and citizens.
To form support groups by the reputed and notable persons of the city, the deputies
and the activists, to help the city and the municipality, and support their demands
based on the development strategy.
Funding remains one of the main obstacles facing the implementation of
development strategies, hence it is recommended:
→ To activate the administrative decentralization.
→ To strengthen the capacity of human resources in municipalities, including
rehabilitation and training in specialized fields, like development strategies,
municipal Science, municipal project management, local development; to
activate the capacities of municipal councils to make partnerships and twinning
with well known cities and municipalities, and to address international donors to
ensure funding for strategic projects, which affects positively the lives of citizens,
and puts these cities and municipalities on the right track to sustainable
development.
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Development Strategies
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1- Development Strategies
Development strategies are considered today as the most fundamental requirements for
managing cities and municipalities. These strategies that point at action plans for a balanced
growth in the cities are prepared in accordance with scientific principles and methodologies in
full and effective partnership with all the community components: citizens, civil society
institutions, associations, unions, executive and consultative councils, public and private
sectors organizations, businessmen and universities. The goal of these strategies is to
improve the quality of life for all citizens.
Development strategies include a collective vision for the city, and an action plan aiming at
improving urban governance and management and ensuring the effectiveness of decisionmaking, in addition to increasing the investments to expand employment opportunities and
services, and reduce urban poverty and unemployment in a systematic sustainable manner,
all in order to achieve the excellence triangle in urban and municipal labor based on results,
transparency and citizen. This will be achieved on the grounds that these development
strategies constitute a directive guiding us toward the strategic options to be taken and those
to be avoided, and it is the one that takes the cities and all its components to a single point:
the strategic implementation, as it is a systematic process for determining the priorities we
want to achieve in the future for the benefit of the cities, the citizens, and the poor in
particular....
The development strategies for cities begin by evaluating the situation of the city and the
surrounding area, as every city must work to identify the strengths and weaknesses in its
internal environment, and the opportunities and threats related to its external environment,
and then move on to the preparation of a long-term vision: a vision emerging from the
strategic understanding between all the concerned parties, which is the basis for mobilizing
energies effectively for the benefit of the city; a vision taking into account the reality and
aspirations of the city, while focusing on the application because the presence of development
strategies represents a leap forward, and the failure to implement them represents a major
leaps backward. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt viable and applicable development
strategies taking into account the methodologies, requirements, needs, priorities and
indicators to ensure a sustainable development state and not an emergency one, which will
guarantee the achievement of a number of goals like improving urban governance and
management effectiveness and decision-making, choosing priorities, providing funding and
resources, identifying the roles and partnerships between the public and private sectors, the
civil society, and the citizens up to building the self-capacity of cities and municipalities,
ensuring a local sustainable economic growth that will reflect positively on the urban economy
and alleviate poverty, unemployment, homelessness and slums, and at the same time
guarantee the improvement of services, the standard of living and the quality of life for all
citizens, without exception.
After following up the analysis of the developmental strategies in general, and those of
Mashreq countries in particular, we realize that this methodology is applied and put into effect.
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For example, we find that the methodology of building the development strategies of Karak
and Mafraq, as well as the development strategies of each of Al-Fayhaa, Dannieh and all
other regions, have begun to collect and analyze data related to the city and its history, its
circumstances, administrative organizations, demographic state and population, in addition to
the economic and social situation, and its different sectors, up to analyzing the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and building the vision, goals and strategic directions,
and developing programs, projects and performance indicators, which support and achieve
the city‟s strategic objectives; all this is accomplished with the broad participation of all
community components, from the public and private sector, institutions of civil society, trade
unions, political parties, associations and citizens, in addition to the municipality, the
governorate, and the consultative and executive councils....
It is worth mentioning that many of the bodies have developed and adopted specialized
methodologies for building development strategies, all in the need for analysis and building
the vision, goals, and projects, and the most important bodies are:





1.1-
Cities Alliance
World Bank
Mediterranean Cities Network
UN - Habitat
Lebanese Council for Development and Reconstruction
Objective of the Study
This study aims mainly to analyze the development strategies for a number of Mashreq
countries including Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Turkey and Cyprus through certain
axes related to the structure of the strategies, in terms of priorities, tracks, strategic projects,
performance indicators, as well as timeframes, experts, partners and sponsors. The project is
also designed to evaluate the status of these strategies and the need for update and
modernization, based on a number of criteria, like the strategy‟s time frame, the results of
monitoring and evaluation, the changes in circumstances in the internal and external
environment, in addition to identifying the sponsors, the funding sources, and the
implementation phases.
This study also aims to provide a number of recommendations on development strategies,
like raising awareness at the level of governments, local authorities and municipal councils of
the importance of development strategies, benefiting from the experience of cities and states
that achieved remarkable success in strategies development, emphasizing on the importance
of the successful implementation of development strategies, transforming their visions,
missions and strategic objectives into reality that will affect positively the lives of citizens
through the activation of local development units, project management units, and international
cooperation; also ensuring effective leadership and coordination between the municipality, the
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governorate authority, the executive bodies and the local community organizations, to
guarantee the successful implementation of the strategies, making genuine partnership with
the private sector, addressing international organizations and donors to provide the necessary
funding and support to overcome the financing problems.
1.2-
Scope of the Study
This study analyzes the development strategies of Mashreq countries, including Lebanon,
Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Turkey, and Cyprus. This study is based on the development
strategies available in some cities, and it analyzes, monitors and deals with certain issues and
themes related to these strategies wherever they exist, and that can be summarized as
follows:
-
Time frame of the development strategies
-
Experts and stakeholders
-
Partners and sponsors
-
Strategic priorities and objectives
-
Emerging strategic projects
-
Performance indicators
-
Control, Monitoring, and Evaluation
-
The need to update the development strategies
Second: Funding Sources:




International donors
National funding
Auto funding
Private sector
Third: Implementation Stages of the Strategic Projects
Fourth: Orientations toward Strategic Development Planning
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Development Strategies for Mashreq Countries
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Development Strategies for Lebanon
Al Fayhaa Sustainable Development Strategy
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2- Development Strategies for Lebanon/ Al-Fayhaa Urban Community
This part of the analysis deals with each of Al-Fayhaa development strategy and the Strategic
Development Plan of Danniyeh region. Before going deep into the analysis of these
strategies, we submit thereafter a brief definition of Al-Fayhaa Urban Community.
2.1- Al-Fayhaa Urban Community
Al Fayhaa Urban Community, including the municipalities of Tripoli, Mina, Bedawi, and
Kalamoon which was annexed recently to the community, is considered as a strategic
location, due to its position in the center of the eastern shore of the Mediterranean; these
cities play a connection role between the Mediterranean basin and the internal region of the
middle east in one hand, and Al Fayhaa includes, on the other hand, a number of facilities
and infrastructures of great importance on the national level, like the port, the railways, Rashid
Karame international fair, and the oil refinery. Moreover, it is an important attraction for
tourists, due to its rich historical legacy, moderate climate, old markets and buildings
architectural style, which date back to the Mamluk era.
And in this context, Tripoli which is the capital of north Lebanon governorate, still play a key
role as an administrative, economic, commercial and cultural axe. Data indicates that the
population of Al-Fayhaa Urban Community is estimated to 320 thousand people spread
between Tripoli, Mina, and Badawi, each one of them respectively (230,000) (53,000)
(36,000), over a total area of approximately 3,000 hectares, according to the geographical
information system (GIS) in Al-Fayhaa Urban Community for the year 2004. (The data does
not include Kalamoon city which was recently annexed to Al-Fayhaa Urban Community)
2.2- Al Fayhaa Sustainable Development Strategy
2.2.1- Time frame of Al Fayhaa Sustainable Development Strategy
Al-Fayhaa Sustainable Development Strategy, which has been built in October 2011, extends
to 2020; therefore this development strategy of Al Fayhaa Urban Community represented by
Tripoli, Mina, and Bedawi, which came within an advanced vision of the community,
emphasized that:1:
“Al-Fayhaa is a developed community with regional pivotal role, enjoying prosperous living
conditions and openness stemming from the long lasting heritage and cultural values at the
cities”
1
Kalamoon area was not part of Al Fayhaa Urban Community when Al Fayhaa Sustainable Development Strategy was
built.
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And its mission, which stresses on the realization of the vision through:
“Promoting social justice ،improving citizens’ competencies and job creation opportunities ،
strengthening citizens’ national loyalty and shared community responsibilities ،reviving the
values of their heritage ،and stimulating private and public institutions with local and regional
impact to benefit from available opportunities"
And to achieve this vision Al Fayhaa Urban Community has adopted a sustainable
development strategy for the period extending from 2012 to 2020.
2.2.2- Experts and Stakeholders
This strategic development plan was built by a number of experts and stakeholders, in
partnership with Al Fayhaa society components, the public and private sector, the
associations and citizens. The team of experts is specialized as follows:
- Experts and specialists:
* Engineer Abdullah Abdul Wahab: Project Manager.
* Mrs. Maha Kayal: Specialized in sociology.
* Dr. Mosbah Rajab: Specialized in urban planning.
* Mr. Fawaz Hamidi: Economist.
* Mr. Rami Semaan: Specialized in transportation.
* Mr. Alphonse Sigoreh: International consultant in city development strategies.
- Al Fayhaa Urban Observatory, represented by:
* Engineer Dima Homsi: Technical Coordinator
* Engineer Doha Bonny: Environmental Coordinator
* Ms. Amal Soufi: Laboratory officer
* Mrs. Rawiya Sankari: Economic and social context officer
* Ms. Ruba Bisar: I.T. officer
This team, in partnership with all the components of Al Fayhaa Urban community, has built a
sustainable development strategy, including three municipal components: Tripoli, Mina, and
Bedawi.
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2.2.3- Partners and Sponsors
Al Fayhaa Sustainable Development Strategy (AFSDS) was built in 2008, by Al Fayhaa Union
of Municipalities with partnership and cooperation of a number of international bodies which
provided technical, consultative and financial support:
- Cities Alliances
- World Bank
- Mediterranean cities Network
- City of Marseille
- Municipality of Barcelona
- UN-Habitat
- AFD
- UNEP
This strategy was built with a vision to establish a sustainable development path for Al Fayhaa
Urban Community, for the period of 2012-2020, with a broad and effective participation of Al
Fayhaa society components, the public and private sector and the civil society authorities.
2.2.4- Strategic Priorities
Al Fayhaa Sustainable Development Strategy (AFSDS) is based on a number of strategic
priorities and tracks, which reflect and respond to the priorities of the quadruple analysis of
the actual situation of the city, representing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats. And these strategic priorities were as follows:
Strategic Priorities and Goals

Promote the economic growth of the three cities by:
-

Contribute to poverty alleviation by:
-

Managing resources effectively
Encouraging investment
Ending social segregation
Creating new job opportunities
Offering better living conditions
Providing essential services
Decreasing the rate of illiteracy
Improve urban governance and management by:
-
Directing demographic expansion and social change
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-
Building awareness of the importance of communal values and particular
interests
2.2.5- Strategic Tracks
The previous strategic goals and priorities have been distributed among a number of strategic
tracks as follows:





First strategic track: Integrated territorial management and enhancement of urban
space
Second strategic track: Enhance city competitiveness
Third strategic track: Promote social development
Fourth strategic track: Development of the local economy
Fifth strategic track: Improvement of Al Fayhaa cities image
2.2.6- Emerging Strategic Projects
Al Fayhaa development strategic projects 2020 were put on two phases:
-
Phase one: 46 projects were set in compliance with Al-Fayhaa current position and its
future expectations, and supporting its vision and mission.
Phase two: During this phase, the possibilities and capabilities to implement these
development projects were reviewed in order to make these projects more flexible and
viable, which led to the shrinking number of these projects from 46 to 24 projects.
The Strategic Projects were divided into two types:
1. Projects that are linked to the local decisions in the sense that the bodies of local
governance and communities are able to implement them.
2. Projects related to the State, which means that their implementation is linked to the
general policy of the country at a national level.
The AFSDS projects are:
1- Develop a strategy to regenerate the downtown and the historic quarters of Al Fayhaa
cities through:
- Saving the local heritage from destruction
- Finding mechanism that leads to a sustainable maintenance of the local heritage
- Reactivating the historical center of Tripoli and Al Mina.
- Providing priority to pedestrians as well as private and public transport vehicles.
- Initiating a step forward for the local heritage on the list of World heritage
2- Create an urban park (an area approximately 10 hectares) and green spaces in the
three cities in order to improve the environmental situation on the cities of Al Fayhaa
through:
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- Providing natural spaces in an urban place that is subject to constant growth.
- Providing the needy families with green areas.
- Absorbing the number of families coming from neighboring regions during weekends
and holidays.
- Increasing the green areas in proportion with Al-Fayhaa cities population.
- Encouraging the use of renewable energy in these areas
3- Develop the coast of Al Fayhaa to improve the touristic situation of Al Fayhaa cities
through:
- Developing a long waterfront with several capabilities and abilities that can contribute
to the development of the cities of Al Fayhaa
- Improving tourism by reorganizing the public spaces.
- Reorganizing the road lines - pedestrian walkways and parking lots.
- Maintaining the marine environment and showing its features.
- Encouraging the use of renewable energy (in the public lighting for example).
4- Establish integrated public transport lines and parking lots as part of a general solution
to the parking problem in order to Organize the public transport in the cities of Al
Fayhaa and set an institutional and organizational framework for the public transport
through:
- Activating the public transport services, enlarging its coverage over the geographic
area of Al Fayhaa cities.
- Organizing parking spaces.
- Introducing pedestrian sidewalks.
5- Unify the three master plans for the cities of Al Fayhaa and placing them on the path of
sustainable development by:
- Providing a harmonious construction development among the three cities
6- Rearrange the principal axes of Al-Fayhaa Cities in order to achieve a comprehensive
transportation system capable of:
- Identifying the function of each axe and justifying its use.
- Improving the use of the public space.
- Improving the urban construction image.
7- Complete the western Highway and the East interchange for the Cities of Al Fayhaa by:
- Reducing the pressure on Tripoli‟s center by diverting the traffic and the transit.
- Linking the eastern quarters of Tripoli with the other quarters in order to improve their
social and economical status.
- Providing better services for the public facilities mainly the seaport and Rashid
Karame international Fair.
Page 21
8- Survey current urban situation and establish a system of indicators for the cities of Al
Fayhaa
9- Project Management Unit
10- Tripoli Special Economic Zone:
• Port Site
• Techno-Pole
11- Reactivate Industrial Areas of Al Fayhaa Cities
12- Rehabilitate the railways station of Tripoli and Re-open the Railway section between
Tripoli and Homs
13- International Conference for reactivation of the Rashid Karame International Fair
14- Social Housing Project
15- Organize the handicrafts sector
16- Re-organize the existing cultural and sports facilities, for leisure and recreation
17- Create urban plans to support the vital projects in the city
18- Create an Office of Local Development at the Al-Fayhaa UOM
19- Strategic plans for existing and potential Economic Clusters
20- Develop Touristic Track & its Services
21- Create Links with the Diaspora
22- Create urban events (calendar year) to include the main events in the cities of Al
Fayhaa (1. cities of classical Arabic classical music, 2. Gourmet Cities, 3. Crafts
Cities)
23- Elaborate an administrative structure for the selected museums in Al Fayhaa
24- Reactivate communication structure to promote the image of the city locally, nationally
& internationally.
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2.2.7- Monitoring and Evaluation
The monitoring and evaluation process is one of the most important tools for judging the
success and the extent of viability of the development strategies. In this context, several
successes were registered in the implementation of Al-Fayhaa Sustainable Development
Strategy (AFSDS) which were based on the strategic projects included therein, and this was
accomplished according to the strategic tracks of the plan as follows:
• Strategic Track 1: Integrated territorial management and enhancement of urban
space.
-
The cultural heritage project of the city of Tripoli concerning the old town and
including the restoration of storefronts, and the implementation of infrastructure
for the project.
-
The construction of transport station "for Taxi and public transportation" with
modern specifications, to ensure the delivery of quality services to citizens and
contribute to enhancing the urban area; the project is to be completed during
2015.
The construction of four public squares to serve the citizens of Al-Fayhaa cities
in collaboration with the Municipality of Marseille, and thus contributing to the
expansion of the urban area of Al-Fayhaa.
-
-
Project of organizing the shores of Al-Fayhaa, in collaboration with the
Municipality of Marseille. The project is partly funded by the French Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and it is expected to be completed during 2015.
-
Project of rearranging one of the main hubs of the city of Tripoli.
-
Project of following-up the implementation of the western highway and the
eastern beltway, which will serve and pass through Al-Fayhaa cities; the project
will be implemented through the Ministry of Public Works.
-
Launching the debate for the construction of a specialized unit in project
management, as a prelude to the establishment of the unit.
-
Project of Air Quality Monitoring in Al-Fayhaa Urban Community "Gouvair
nance", Financed by the European Union, with 500 thousand euros. Three
stations for measuring air quality around the clock will be installed, and the
project is expected to be completed during 2015.
-
Project of constructing a waste sorting plant, financed by the European Union
through the office of the Minister of State for Administrative Development Affairs,
with the amount of one million, one hundred thousand euros. The project was
completely implemented.
Page 23



-
Project of establishing a laboratory for extraction of organic fertilizer from waste,
financed by the European Union through the office of Minister of State for
Administrative Development Affairs, and the project is under execution.
-
Project of creating a new slaughterhouse in Al-Fayhaa cities, financed by Kuwait
Fund, through the Lebanese Council for Development and Reconstruction, and
through a loan of $ (5.5) million Kuwaiti dinars; the project is expected to be
launched during 2015.
-
Project of streets and buildings numbering in Damm & Farz area, financed by
the municipality of Malaga in Spain. The pilot phase was completed, and all
regions will be completed successively.
Strategic Track 2: Enhance city competitiveness
-
Project of establishment of an economic zone at Tripoli Harbor, including the
rehabilitation and construction of infrastructure for the harbor; and the project
will be implemented by the Ministry of Public Works.
-
Project of re-activation of Rashid Karami International Fair, where a local
seminar was launched in collaboration with the Order of Engineers in North
Lebanon. The seminar focused on the re-consideration, and activation of the
fair, which will affect positively the economic and social life of Al-Fayhaa Urban
Community.
Strategic Track 3: Reinforce the social development policies
-
Project of restoration of the facades of Tebbaneh houses, funded by the Hariri
Foundation with an amount of 20 million dollars.
-
Project of creating a Development Fund for Al-Fayhaa Urban Community.
-
Project of creating a Local Development Office in Al-Fayhaa Urban Community.
The office is expected to proceed with its work, after approval from the ministry
to amend the departments of Al Fayhaa Urban Community to include a
development office.
Strategic Track 4: Local Economy Development
-
Project of Implementation of the touristic tracks of the archaeological sites in AlFayhaa, through electronic applications using smart phones. The project
includes 50 touristic sites in the cities of Al-Fayhaa. This project is implemented
in cooperation with the Municipality of Marseille, and it is expected to be
completed by the end of 2014.
Page 24

Strategic Track 5: Improvement of the Al-Fayhaa cities’ image
-
-
-
Project of launching an international water touristic festival, in collaboration with
the Ministry of Tourism, all over Lebanon, while specifying two days for AlFayhaa cities.
Launching a celebration under the name (Tripoli Day) including recreational and
trade events , so as to ensure the rehabilitation of some ancient markets, in
addition to an annual music celebration under the name of "In Tripoli we can."
Constructing two museums within Tripoli Castle, financed by the World Bank.
2.2.8- The need to update the strategy
The successful strategies are the flexible ones which allow and accommodate changes and
respond to them. Hence, the analysis of Al-Fayhaa sustainable development strategy
(AFSDS) 2020 imposes updating based on the following facts:
1. Time frame: Three years have passed since the beginning of Al-Fayhaa development
strategy, which imposes updating, especially in light of the results of monitoring and
evaluation, requiring addition of projects, or time amendment.
2. Performance indicators: The need to install performance indicators for Al-Fayhaa
sustainable development strategy requires the update of this strategy.
3. Demographic changes: The demographic changes taking place in Al-Fayhaa Urban
Community, due to the influx of Syrian refugees into Lebanon in general, and into the cities
of Al-Fayhaa in particular, and the pressure it imposes on services, infrastructure, and
social structure, requires updating the strategy in response to the changes in the internal
and external environment.
4. Geographic expansion: The annexation of Kalamoon city to Al-Fayhaa Urban Community
requires the update of the strategy, to take into account this new component and its
population and development requirements, and the resulting strength and weakness,
opportunities and threats.
2.2.9- Financing the Strategy
The competitive characteristics of Al-Fayhaa Urban Community, especially the presence of
the Urban Observatory, the qualified and persistent human resources, enabled Al-Fayhaa to
build and adopt a sustainable development strategy, with the support of:
- Cities Alliance
- World Bank
- Mediterranean cities Network
- City of Marseille
- Municipality of Barcelona
- UN-Habitat
- AFD
- UNEP
Page 25
2.2.10- Implementation Stages of the Strategic Projects
Al-Fayhaa Sustainable Development Strategy (AFSDS) included a total of 24 strategic
projects and (24) targets, distributed on five strategic tracks.
• The Strategic Projects were divided into two types:
1. Projects that are linked to the local decisions in the sense that the bodies of local
governance and communities are able to implement them;
2. Projects related to the State, which means that its implementation is linked to the
general policy of the country at a national level
• The
Strategic projects included a card for each project mentioning the following elements:
- Project name
- Project strategic track
- Project public objectives
- Project private objectives
- Project justification
- Project expected results
- Partners: International, local/national parties
- Funding sources: International, local/national
•
Time Frame for implementation of the strategic projects
After analyzing the stages of implementation, we note that they are implemented
progressively as follows:
1. Long Term Projects (five years or more):
- Organizing Al-Fayhaa cities beaches.
- Rearranging the main hubs of Al-Fayhaa Urban Community.
- Implementing the western highway and the eastern beltway of Al-Fayhaa cities.
- Rehabilitating the railway station.
2. Medium Term Projects (three to five years):
- Building a strategy to revitalize the downtown and the historic neighborhoods.
- Social housing project.
Page 26
3. Short Terms Projects (three years):
- Establishing a public park.
- Unifying the three guiding plans for Al -Fayhaa Urban Community.
4. Immediate Projects (less than a year):
- Creating a Project Management Unit.
- An international symposium to re-activate Rashid Karami International Fair.
- Creating a local development office2.
In this context, we note that Al-Fayhaa Urban Community is capable of addressing
international organizations to provide the necessary funding for implementing, or
starting the implementation of a number of strategic projects mentioned in Al-Fayhaa
Sustainable Development Strategy.
2
Al-Fayhaa has already begun to work on the project through the development of a feasibility study concerning the
local development office and it is ready to set up the office.
Page 27
Development Strategies for Lebanon
Strategic Development Plan of the Dannieh Region
Page 28
3- Strategic Development Plan of Danniyeh Region
3.1- Dannieh Municipalities Union
Dannieh is one of the eight districts of North Lebanon governorate. It oversees the city of
Tripoli from the east, and constitutes an extension of Al Maqmel Mountain, the highest
mountain of Lebanon, which covers more than two-thirds of the district area amounting to 362
square kilometers. The district was established in 1993, and it is surrounded by Akkar in the
North, Hermel in the East, Bsharreh and Zgharta in the South, and Tripoli in the South-West.
The western part of the district borders the Mediterranean Sea.
3.2- Sustainable Development Strategy of Dannieh
3.2.1- Time Frame of Sustainable Development Strategy of Dannieh
The strategy, which was completed in 2012, came to achieve the vision for the region in the
following manner:
“Dannieh is an attractive region for living, rich in job opportunities, education and basic health
services as a result of optimal investments in its competitive advantages embodied in its
biodiversity, its natural richness, and which requires for its sustainability the development and
improvement of the agricultural sector, diversification of touristic activities, concurrently with
the completion of infrastructure facilities.”
To achieve this vision, Dannieh has adopted a development strategy which was launched in
2012.
3.2.2- Experts and stakeholders
This development strategy was built with the participation of a number of institutions, experts
and specialists, and in partnership with all components of Dannieh community, from public
sector to associations and citizens. The following institutions have worked to build this
strategy:
1. Consultation and Research Institute:
- Kamal Hamdan - Executive Director of the Consultation and Research Institute
- Alexander Ammar - Project Coordinator
- Redah Hamdan - Statistics Expert
- Sami Atallah – Economic Expert
- Ali Al-Moussawi - Sociologist and Expert in Local Development
- Maha Kayal - Sociologist and Expert in Local Development
Page 29
2- United Nations Development Program
-
Dr. Raghed Assi
Dr. Abdallah Muhieddine
Francesco Bicciato
Fadia Jradi
Nada Dimachkieh Sweidan
Ghassan Nehme
Ola Qobeissi
3- Lebanese Council for Development and Reconstruction
-
Dr. Ibrahim Shahrour
Amal Karaki
4- Dannieh Union of Municipalities
-
Mohamed Abdel-Salam Saadieh
Nizar Raad
Tawfik Agha
Hafez Osman
This team has built the strategic development plan of Dannieh region in partnership with all
the components of Dannieh community.
3.2.3- Partners and Sponsors
The "Strategic Development Plan of Dannieh Region" was built within the context of the
"UNDP ART GOLD" project, with international technical, advisory and funding support, and in
partnership with the following parties:
1234-
UNDP – ART GOLD
Spanish government
Italian government
Belgian government
In coordination with the Lebanese Council for Development and Reconstruction.
3.2.4- Strategic Priorities
The strategic priorities of the strategic development plan of Danniyeh region came as a
reflection of the reality of the region, which showed the presence of a number of challenges
and weaknesses, most notably:
Page 30
• Poverty and unemployment.
• Shortages and lack of basic services.
• Weakness and inefficiency of infrastructure.
• Reliance on seasonal work (seasonal agriculture).
• Image of the region in people‟s mind.
Consequently, the region reached the stage of low capacities resulting from the absence of
the state's economic and social policies, in addition to the widespread of poverty. Therefore,
this document focused on Dannieh strategic priorities as follows:
• The most direct priority:
Develop the agricultural sector and the farmers (especially small and medium farmers), for the
following reasons:
-
-
The development of this sector represents livelihood support for the majority of the
region‟s inhabitants. This would increase their productivity as well as their income
levels,
Strengthen the bond between the new generation (in a mostly young society) and their
land.
Establish agricultural cooperatives, which would cover various areas and products.
• Intermediate priorities:
Promoting the capacity building of local skills, institutional structure, infrastructure, social
services and activating networks of private local investments covering the major social facets
that affect the region‟s quality of life.
• Long term priorities:
Establishing a diverse tourism sector (ecotourism, winter time tourism, summer tourism, etc.)
as a basis for the diversification of economic activity to not limit it to the primary sector which
is solely based on agriculture. In order to attract tourists of all kind, a media campaign is
needed to change the image of the region in people‟s minds, taking it from its seasonal nature
in terms of economic activity to a more sustainable and stable and prosperous region year
long.
The most important condition to achieve these development goals lies in ensuring the
sustainability of the environment which is considered the most important asset of the region.
This should be taken into consideration when initiating any project or intervention in any of the
sector. The development of the agricultural sector, the food stuffs industry, urban planning,
the improvement of the infrastructure as well as the establishment of a flourishing tourism
industry all cannot bypass preserving the environment of the region its beautiful views to
bequeath a sustainable future for generations to enjoy.
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3.2.5- Emerging Strategic Projects
The Strategic Development Plan of Dannieh region includes a number of strategic objectives
for all sectors and an identification of the parties responsible for the implementation, as
follows:
First: Real Estate Sector:
1- Regulate the Real Estate Sector: Set the criteria that govern private property
rights and real estate transactions by:




Establishing an advisory committee in order to review real estate and construction
problems
Endeavoring to resolve the most important ownership conflicts among residents
Settlement of communal lands
Following up the settlement of inheritance cases and encouraging the issuance of
property deeds
2- Regulate Urban Planning:







Empowering local authorities to oversee urban planning issues and supervise
construction activities.
Conducting a study on the status of buildings and building violations.
Conducting a study on the status of unexploited lands and offering urban planning
recommendations which take into account each region's characteristics and the
needs of its residents.
Preparing a new zoning proposal and the various land uses.
Establishing building and architectural requirements that are in line with the
conditions and land uses particular to each region.
Organizing public awareness campaigns on the importance of urban planning and
building regulations.
Following up the settlement of building violations and proposing the adoption of
amnesty periods during which penalties are reduced.
Second: Agriculture Sector
1- Studies on the modernization of agricultural production
 Establishing an advisory committee to study and follow up the farmers issues and
improve productivity.
 Conducting studies on the reduction of the cost of agricultural production.
 Conducting studies on the diversification of potential markets.
 Conduct feasibility studies on potential new crops.
 Conduct feasibility studies on the inclusion of protected winter and organic crops.
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2- Address the problem of the pervasive small size of agricultural plots and the
problems of small farmers
 Organizing awareness campaigns and reinstituting the traditions of collaboration
and cooperation among residents.
 Promoting the creation of interregional agricultural cooperatives.
 Establishing health insurance and retirement funds for small producers.
 Conducting studies on the exploitation of arable lands.
3- Diversify agricultural credit opportunities

Establishing agencies for the financing of small businesses and the provision of
facilitated agricultural loans.
4- Modernize agricultural practices and tools




Establishing agricultural equipment cooperative in charge of providing modern
equipment.
Establishing an agricultural observatory to conduct soil analysis and measure
humidity and other weather indicators that affect production and the selection of
optimal crops.
Organizing awareness campaigns on post-harvest operations and the proper
techniques for maintaining the quality of the products.
Improving agricultural roads and creating new ones.
5- Modernizing irrigation





Upgrading irrigation channels to reduce waste and disseminating modern irrigation
techniques.
Complete the Brissa dam project and its irrigation network.
Following up the installation of water reservoirs especially in drought areas.
Following up on sanitation projects in order to ensure that irrigation water and water
sources are free of pollution.
Working toward expanding the scope of irrigated crops.
6- Enhance the quality of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides


Establishing a local committee of farmers to monitor the quality of imported
chemicals.
Following up on the wastewater treatment project.
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7- Enhance the quality of products
 Organizing awareness campaigns on the techniques of using chemicals and
pesticides.
 Enforcing the regular testing of agricultural products and taking the necessary steps
to bring them into compliance with international standards.
8- Improve the marketing of agricultural products







Improving the operation of packaging and cooling centers and encouraging them to
apply for certificates of quality.
Lobbying for the protection of local products against international competition.
Encouraging local authorities and agricultural cooperatives to establish packaging
and cooling centers.
Establishing firms that specialize in labeling and exports.
Lobbying for the opening of the Qleiat airport in order to facilitate export and expand
the range of potential markets.
Organizing advertisement and marketing campaigns.
Participating in international expos and fairs.
9- Promote livestock breeding







Organizing awareness campaigns on the importance of domestic livestock
breeding.
Lobbying for the subsidization of animal feed and veterinary drugs.
Encouraging the creation of livestock farms (cattle and poultry).
Raising awareness on breeding practices that protect the environment and assign
special areas for grazing.
Providing support to beekeepers
Establishing a new slaughterhouse that complies with the health and environmental
standards.
Following up on the proposal to establish fish farms around river tributaries.
10- Agro food industry







Establishing manufacturing corporations
Establishing a large factory for the production of various agro food products from
fruits and vegetables.
Training women in agro food production.
Establishing dairy factories.
Establishing honey production and packaging factories.
Establish modern olive presses
Establishing industrial wood factories that manufacture wood from pruning
branches
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Third: Tourism Sector
1- Promote summer tourism by:
 Organizing advertising campaigns in Lebanon and the Gulf aiming to improve the
image of the region, emphasize its strengths (website, tourism newsletter (or
magazine), advertisements, television station, etc.).
 Establishing a corporation for the development and management of tourism-related
projects.
 Establishing a specialized office for the handling of tourist affairs and the follow up
of any complaints.
 Establishing public leisure and sports sites (parks, squares, sports arenas,
recreation facilities).
 Re-launching the Sir Teleferique project.
 Organizing summer festivals that include concerts and expos that feature local
products.
 Creating a local product market in one of the old souks.
 Rehabilitating old historical houses and convert them into tourist lodges.
 Establishing a shooting club.
2- Diversify the groups targeted by touristic activities by:

Upgrading the road network that links the five villages to other Dannieh regions
(linking them to the Northern part of Dannieh and to the district of Zgharta) and
promoting the opening of restaurants and ball rooms in select natural sites.
3- Promote ecotourism by:
 Finalizing the decision to create the three natural reserves and implement the
decision.
 Linking the reserves to each other by a network of roads.
 Completing and promoting the "Darb Al Ghaba" project and installing its related
infrastructure.
 Following up on the project of establishing a National Park.
 Organizing climbing competitions to the top of Mount Al Arbaain.
 Establishing camping sites.
4- Promote winter tourism/Break the seasonality of the tourism sector by:


Studying the feasibility of implementing winter sports projects.
Specifying areas in several locations for skiing activities (especially in Qornet Assawda, Jourd An-jass, Mrebinne, Qarassyia …) and arranging for the necessary
infrastructure.
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5- Promote historical & archeological tourism to highlight historical heritage and
emphasize the long history of the region by:





Conducting archaeological excavations.
Establishing a museum to host archaeological finds.
Conducting historical studies on the discovered sites and archaeological artifacts.
Publishing a book on the ancient history of the populations and civilizations of
Dannieh.
Developing the major archeological sites to receive visitors and tourists (Fort Sfireh,
Fort Aishah Al Bashtania, Fakhreddine Tower, Fort An-namroud ...).
Fourth: Environmental Sector



Environmental awareness.
Preventing environmentally harmful practices.
Monitoring the implementation of projects that preserve the environment and
designing new projects.
Fifth: Infrastructure Sector






Upgrading the road network.
Upgrading electricity.
Providing drinking water network.
Finalizing the sanitation project.
Upgrading the communications sector.
Managing the solid waste by establishing a corporation for the collection and
disposal of solid waste.
Sixth: Education Sector:




Enhancing academic and vocational education.
Providing and maintaining school buildings and equipment.
Updating school curricula.
Upgrading the teaching staff by recruiting teachers with certain experience and
qualifications.
Seventh: Health Sector

Increasing access to medical services, establishing primary health care centers,
implementing a project of mobile dispensaries to reach remote locations that do not
have access to medical care, establishing a specialty hospital that tackles the most
common illnesses, and providing chronic disease medications.
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Eighth: Civil society and institutions




Empower local authorities, by completing the establishment of the Qaemaqam
headquarters.
Empower local authorities, by organizing campaigns to lobby for administrative
decentralization, securing sufficient financial resources for municipal councils, and
promoting the participation of local residents in development work.
Empower the local community, like encouraging the creation of cultural
associations, non-governmental organizations, sports clubs, and public libraries,
emphasizing the role of women and implementing women empowerment programs,
and resolving sectarian conflicts.
Family planning, by organizing family planning programs, raising awareness of the
dangers of intermarriage and educating families on child rearing issues.
3.2.6- The need to update the Strategy
Once again, the successful strategies are the flexible ones, which allow and respond to
changes and to the monitoring and evaluation reports, and which are controlled and
governed by parties willing to meet the methodology and development requirements;
therefore, the strategic development plan of the Danniyeh region needs further review and
update, due to the following considerations:
First: Performance Indicators
One of the basic requirements to determine the success and progress of the strategy, and its
impact on the community components, and the lives of citizens, is to include performance
indicators. Hence, the need for performance indicators in the strategy imposes its updating
and development.
Second: Strategic projects
Every strategic project emanating from the development plan needs a card including the
project‟s name and description, its public and private objectives, the expected results thereof
and the potential funding sources, the stages of implementation, and the performance
indicators for monitoring and evaluation. Therefore, there is a need to update and review the
strategic development plan of Dannieh region.
Third: Demographic Changes
The demographic changes taking place in the Danniyeh region, due to presence of Syrian
refugees in Lebanon in general, and in north Lebanon and Danniyeh in particular, and due to
Page 37
the pressure imposed on services, infrastructure, and social structure, require the update of
the strategy in response to the changes in the internal and external environment.
3.2.7- Strategy Funding
The Strategic Development Plan of Dannieh Region was built by local efforts and with
technical, advisory and financing support of international authorities as follows:
1234-
UNDP –ART GOLD
Spanish Government
Italian Government
Belgian Government
In coordination with the Lebanese Council for Development and Reconstruction
3.2.8- Implementation Stages of the Strategic Projects
The analysis of the action plans contained in the Strategic Development Plan of the Danniyeh
region indicates that the implementation will be according to the following:
• Some of the projects and objectives will be implemented according to the priority
standard as follows chronologically:
- Most direct priority
- Intermediate priority
- Long-term priority
• The implementation of projects by the concerned party as follows:
• Some of the projects, initiatives and actions will be implemented through the Union of
Municipalities, the local authorities and local associations, the advisory committees,
and the executive bodies in Danniyeh Union of municipalities.
• Some of the projects and initiatives will be implemented through consultants,
entrepreneurs, and expatriates.
• Some of the projects will be implemented through the Council for Development and
Reconstruction.
• Some of the projects will be implemented through industrial joint-stock companies.
• Some of the projects and initiatives will be implemented through local governments
represented by the Ministry of interior, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Public Works,
Ministry of Water, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health.
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• Some of the projects and initiatives will be implemented through the civil committees
of citizens.
In this context, we can note that a number of Lebanese cities and unions of municipalities
have embraced development strategies projects, in addition to Al Fayhaa Urban Community
and Dannieh Union of Municipalities. Some of these entities are as follows:
No.
Entity
1
Jezzine Union of Municipalities
2
Zgharta
3
Jbeil District
4
Batroun District
5
City of Saida
6
City of Tyre
7
Upper Metn
8
Beirut
Page 39
Development Strategies for Jordan
Karak City Development Strategy
Page 40
4- Karak City Development Strategy
Al Karak has been inhabited since at least the Stone Age, and in the Bible it is called Qer
Harreseth. It was an important city for the Moabites. And in 858 B.C. Mesha, king of Moab
defended the city against the attacks of the Hebrews and the Edomites. Then Romans
conquered it from the Nabateans in 105 A.D.
Today, the initial form of the city remains the same, with the city of Karak located on a hilltop,
next to its historical castle. Karak castle was built in 1131, and it is one of the most significant
historical and archeological features of the middle age, and it is still in excellent condition.
The Governorate of Karak has seven districts, and it includes nine municipalities in addition to
Greater Karak Municipality. In 2010 Karak counted a population of around 23840, equivalent
to 4 % of the kingdom‟s overall population and 42 % of the southern province population.
Karak City Development Strategy
4.1- Time Frame of the Strategy
Karak City Development Strategy was launched in 2012 in conjunction with the development
strategies of the cities of Mafraq, Zarqa and Tafila. The time frames of the strategic projects
extend to 2025, as we find that the project on the rehabilitation of old buildings and houses,
within the strategic direction aiming to promote local economic development of the tourism
sector, second phase, extends until the year 2024.
This development strategy and the emerging projects and approaches came to support and
achieve Karak vision and mission:
"Touristic city characterized by an archaeological heritage, a competitive advantage lying in
the existence of an opportunity for growth of other economic sectors, and a strategic location
making it an attractive pole for tourism in the south of the kingdom by regional integration with
the golden square through the royal high way, and with the capacity to provide human
resources, facilities, services, touristic events and supporting infrastructure which is adapted
to the needs of tourists and in partnership with the institutions of civil society and the private
sector. "
4.2- Experts and Stakeholders
This development strategy came as a result and real broad partnership with all the official and
local community components of Karak including the following:
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The governorate
The municipality.
The Executive Board.
The Advisory Council.
The members of the municipal council of Karak city.
The heads of municipal committees.
The Heads and members of the developmental units in the governorate and the
municipality.
The civil society organizations.
The representatives from various ministries and departments in the governorate.
The cooperative associations and charitable organizations.
The youth bodies.
The press and media.
The Women Unions.
The universities.
The Ministry of Municipalities.
The investors and businessmen.
The private sector.
With regard to the experts involved with the production of this strategy, they were as follows:
• The Ministry of Municipalities
• The Cities and Villages Development Bank.
• Angelo Urso: Adviser
• Ahmed Abdul Karim: Adviser.
• Saleh Jaradat: Program Director
4.3- Partners and Sponsors
Karak City Development Strategy was built in partnership and cooperation with a number of
international authorities, which provided technical, financial and consultative support:
- Cities Alliance
- World Bank
4.4- Strategic Priorities and Objectives
Based on the vision of the city, the development strategy of Karak city came out with a
number of priorities and strategic directions as follows:
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1. Promoting local economic development based on a range of programs and projects that
support the most promising economic sectors in the city of Karak and increase its
competitiveness, in each of the following sectors:
• Tourism sector
• Agriculture and livestock sector
• Industry and mining sector
2. Improving the infrastructure and support services for the development of an economy
based on value-added investments.
3. Improving the institutional structures related to the development process and increasing
participation among the various institutions.
4. Working on training and qualifying the manpower on pilot skills that comply with the labor
market requirements, ensuring the benefit of the residents of Karak from the available job
opportunities and reducing poverty and unemployment.
5. Working on the adoption of an effective media policy to increase citizen awareness and
gain its support and enhancing the understanding of the values and concepts of work and
productivity.
4.5- Strategic Projects
Karak City Development Strategy generated a number of strategic projects that support and
achieve the vision of the aforesaid city; these projects came in accordance with the strategic
priorities and directions, as follows:
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Strategic Direction 1:
Promote local economic development based on a range of programs and projects that
support the most promising economic sectors in Karak city and increase competitiveness
according to the following sectors:
1- Promote the tourism sector, through the following projects:
• Establishing a touristic resort in Jubilee forest which includes a number of facilities:
- 50 Hotel rooms
- 10 Chalets
- Tourist camp
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In addition to developing the forest and providing the infrastructure services.
- The establishment of a museum for popular life
- Garden for children
• Creating a visitors center including rooms for visitors, exhibitions and a number of
specialized shops
• Launching the project of rehabilitation of old buildings and houses
• Establishing an annual touristic festival in the city of Karak
• Preparing a touristic brochure for the city of Karak including all the touristic sites and
types, the archaeological sites and the important touristic services.
• Integrating the city of Karak in the tourism promotion plans of the Tourism Activation
Authority, the tourism private offices and the audio-visual media plans.
• Integrating women in the tourism sector and in the handmade traditional crafts
industry.
2- Promote the agriculture and livestock sector, through the following projects:
• Creating an integrated animal agricultural project including a center for agricultural
and animal research, farms for fattening sheep, a station containing all modern
agricultural machinery, as well as an animal feed factory.
• Establishing a group of water harvestings projects, dams and excavations in order to
collect rainwater and use it for agricultural purposes and establishing reserves
pastoral.
• Establishing a factory for woolen products.
• Linking the agricultural work with the scientific research centers through the
establishment of a coordination unit between the Directorate of Agricultural and the
research centers.
• Forming high quality unions and linking small farmers with large-scale farmers and
finding export markets.
3- Strengthen the industry and mining sectors, through the following projects:
• Coordinating with the Investment Promotion Foundation to set up an investment map
for industry and mining in Karak, based on analytical and realistic studies.
• Starting the exploitation of time-rocks and producing raw material in commercial
quantities.
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Strategic Direction 2:
Improve the infrastructure and the supporting services for the development of an economy
based on added-value investments, through the following strategic projects:
• Creating a parking project in the city of Karak
• Establishing health and services facilities for tourists
• Rehabilitating the royal road linking Karak with the golden square
• Launching the plan for the development of the industrial city
• Designing a project for the development of the municipality and its human and
financial resources
• Designing a plan for the development of the municipality‟s infrastructures and
services and the holistic design.
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Strategic Direction 3:
Improve the institutional structures related to the development process and increase
participation among the various institutions, through the following projects:
• Activating the role of the development units in the municipality and the governorate
and increasing the level of coordination.
• Completing the decentralization project at the municipality and governorate level.
• Amending the legislations by giving additional investment incentives to attract more
investments.
• Holding monthly, quarterly or annual Workshops with donor institutions in
coordination with the relevant ministries to display development ideas and projects for
the purpose of obtaining financing.
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Strategic Direction 4:
Training and qualifying the manpower on pilot skills that comply with the labor market
requirements, ensuring the benefit of the residents of Karak from the available job
opportunities and reducing poverty and unemployment, through the following strategic
projects:
• Creating a specialized center for training.
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• Establishing an annual operational gallery including all the owners of companies and
institutions of the private sector and the graduates who wish to work within the various
sectors.
• Launching training programs within the market needs and focusing on project management.
• Launching a project for the integration of women in all areas of work and training, industry,
tourism and services.
• Starting the implementation of a range of small and medium-sized family projects and
launching training programs for the train families.
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Strategic Direction 5:
Work on the adoption of effective media policy to increase the citizen‟s awareness, gain its
support and enhance the understanding of the values and concepts of work and productivity,
through the following projects:
• Establishing regular workshops to raise awareness of the importance of work and changing
some of the concepts related to the culture of shame.
• Establishing a special website for Karak city in several languages including all touristic and
archaeological information in addition to a documentary movie about Karak.
• Calling the media, the press, the news agencies and television stations to launch a media
and promotional campaign about Karak.
• Holding an economic and touristic conference in the city of Karak.
It should be noted that the strategic projects aforementioned have been developed and their
priorities determined by the participants, based on the following criteria:
• The projects should be within the vision of the city and its development goals.
• The projects should reflect the urgent need for the city of Karak.
• The projects should be viable.
• The projects should have positive effects on Karak and the neighboring cities and provinces.
• The projects should enhance the strengths and limit the weaknesses.
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4.6- Performance Indicators
The performance indicators are extremely valuable in the strategic planning in general in
order to determine the current situation and the targeted values, and to measure the progress
in the strategies.
An analysis of the city of Karak development strategy shows that it includes performance
indicators and evaluation standards that can be noted based on the strategic projects:
• Project to establish a touristic resort in Jubilee forest, including the following performance
and evaluation criteria:
• Increasing the number of hotel rooms.
• Raising the number of visitors to the city of Karak.
• Increasing the rate of residence of tourists in the city.
• Increasing the municipal revenues.
• Increasing the number of workers in the tourism sector.
• Project to integrate women in the tourism sector and the handmade traditional crafts
industry; this project includes the following performance and evaluation criteria:
• Lifting the rate of female economic participation.
• Reducing the unemployment rate.
• Increasing the average of family income.
• The animal-agricultural integrated project including the following performance and evaluation
criteria:
• Increasing the agricultural production.
• Increasing the number of workers in the agricultural sector.
• Project to establish an annual operational gallery including the following performance and
evaluation criteria:
• Increasing job opportunities.
• Reducing the poverty rate.
• Reducing the unemployment rate.
Therefore, the presence of performance indicators within the development strategies is
extremely important to judge the success of the strategies.
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4.7- Monitoring, Follow up and Evaluation
Karak city development strategy included a plan to follow up the implementation of the
strategy itself. This plan covered the actions, the appointment of the agencies responsible for
implementation, the time frame and the required funding sources. For example, the strategy
included the following actions:
• Establishing a specialized authority to monitor the implementation of Karak city
development strategy, in order to ensure coordination with all relevant parties, to provide
the necessary funding, and to work on attracting local and foreign investments.
• Creating a unit to promote tourism.
• Creating a unit specialized in agricultural affairs.
4.8-The need to update Karak city development strategy:
After analyzing the strategic plan, we realize that there is no real need to update Karak city
development strategy, but there is an actual need to emphasize on the implementation of this
strategy, and to work hard for the execution of the projects to ensure the realization of the
vision of the city, which will affect positively the lives of citizens, ensure the reducing of
poverty and unemployment, increase the operation rate, create job opportunities, reduce the
weaknesses and turn them into opportunities to improve the lifestyle of the city and its
citizens.
4.9- Funding sources for Karak city development strategy:
Karak City Development Strategy was funded and supported on the financial, technical and
advisory level by local and international bodies, as follows:
1. Cities Alliance
"Financial support"
2. World Bank
"Consultative and technical support"
3. Cities and Villages Development Bank
"Logistic support"
4. The Ministry of Municipalities
"Technical and logistic support"
5. Karak Municipality
"Financial support"
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4.10- Implementation stages of the strategic projects:
Karak City Development Strategy was launched in 2012, and the implementation of some of
the projects will continue until 2025. The implementation stages of the strategic projects are
as follows:
• Long-term:
• Project of establishing a touristic resort with all its components (14) years.
• Project of constructing a visitor center with all its components (14) years.
• Project of rehabilitating old buildings and houses (14) years.
• Project of rehabilitating the royal road linking Karak with the Golden Square.
• Medium term:
• Establishing an integrated animal-agricultural project (4 years).
• Establishing a factory for woolen products (two years).
• Short term:
• Constructing parking for cars and touristic buses.
• Designing a plan for developing the Municipality and its human and financial
resources.
• Designing a plan for the development of the municipality‟s infrastructures and
services and the holistic plan.
The card of the strategic project emerging from the development plan included the project‟s
name and description, its background, the general objective, the action plan, the expected
results and effects thereof, the project‟s risks, the estimated cost, the potential funding
sources, the partners, the project‟s priorities , and the time frame for implementation.
The potential funding sources included international, local and national agencies, as follows:
• International bodies.
• World Bank.
• International organizations working in the field of agriculture.
• Grants and aids program:
- American
- EU
- Japanese
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National bodies. Public sector
• Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation.
• Ministry of Tourism.
• Ministry of Agriculture.
• Armed Forces (Corps of Engineers).
• Ministry of Public Works and Housing.
• Jordan Industrial Estates Corporation
• Investment Promotion Agency
• Vocational Training Corporation
• Ministry of Higher Education.
• Development of economic projects Foundation
• Orphans Money Development Foundation
• Private sector - businessmen and investors:
• Phosphate.
• Potassium.
• National funds:
• Governorates Development Fund
• Investment Fund of the southern universities
• Municipalities
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Development strategies for Jordan
Mafraq City Development Strategy
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5- Mafraq City Development Strategy
Mafraq
Mafraq Governorate is located in the north-east of Jordan, and it has 287,000 inhabitants over
a distance of approximately 26 541 km2. Mafraq shares borders with Saudi Arabia, Iraq and
Syria, and it is considered as the second largest city in Jordan in terms of land area,
constituting 9.29% of the total area of Jordan.
Mafraq is the open gate to the Northern region of Jordan and it constitutes the center of
transport to the roads leading to Syria in the north, to Iraq in the east, and to Saudi Arabia in
the south-east.
Mafraq includes many archaeological sites from the Paleolithic to the Ottoman era, like Um Al
Jamal and Al Fadaein sites. The region enjoys a desert climate that tends to be warm or dry
during the summer and relatively cold during winter night.
5.1- Time Frame of the Strategy
Mafraq city development strategy was launched in 2012 and the time frames for the
implementation of the strategic projects extend till the next decade.
This strategy and the vision and strategic projects emerging from it, came to improve the lives
of citizens in Mafraq and the surrounding regions, by emphasizing on the following:
"The city of Mafraq constitutes a golden triangle for agriculture, industry and transport, and it
will be the base to establish economical development, continuity, and sustainable wealth and
development. The best way to achieve this vision is to build effective plans, ensure funding
and good governance and build institutional capacity."
This vision came in response to the challenges facing Mafraq city, mainly as follows:
- Poverty and unemployment.
- Limited financial resources.
- Neglect of heritage sites.
- Agricultural land degradation.
- Migration from Mafraq to Amman.
- Centralized decision-making.
- Dry climate.
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- Deterioration of the quality of services.
- Weakness of women's participation in the economic and political life.
- Lack of coordination between public institutions and the private sector.
- Lack of comprehensive and regional plans.
- Lack of databases.
5.2- Experts and stakeholders
Mafraq city development strategy was built through a genuine partnership with all the
components of Mafraq community, both public and private sectors, and the civil society
organizations represented by:
• The governorate.
• The municipality.
• The university.
• The Executive Board.
• The Advisory Council.
• The development units.
• The civil society organizations.
Regarding the experts that contributed to the establishment of this strategy, they were as
follows:
• Ministry of Municipalities.
• Cities and Villages Development Bank.
• Angelo Urso: Adviser.
• Jamal Jaradat: Adviser
• Saleh Jaradat: Program Director.
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5.3- Partners and Sponsors
Mafraq City Development Strategy was built with technical, consultative and financial support
of the following entities:
• Cities Alliance.
• World Bank.
These efforts resulted in the creation of a development strategy with a vision establishing the
path of an urban sustainable strategy for the city of Mafraq.
5.4- Mafraq Strategic Priorities and Objectives
Mafraq city development strategy induced a number of strategic priorities and objectives as
follows:
• Improving the economic environment, depending on a series of projects that contribute
to the development of economic sectors in the city and to the increase of its
competitive particularity, in each of the following sectors:
- Agriculture sector.
- Industry sector.
- Transportation sector.
• Improving the social infrastructure in order to support the local economic development.
• Raising the institutions‟ capacity and the human resources performance and modifying
the functional hierarchies of the institutions related to the development process.
• Reducing poverty and unemployment.
• Improving the historical and heritage sites in the city as a mean to attract new
investments and improve the economic growth.
5.5- The Strategic projects:
Mafraq city development strategy includes a number of strategic projects that support the
vision of the city, increase the chances of growth and improve the lives of citizens. These
projects came in accordance with the strategic priorities and objectives as follows:
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• Strategic Direction 1:
Improve the economic environment, depending on a series of projects that contribute to the
development of the economic sectors in the city and the increase of its competitive
particularity with respect to the agriculture, industry and transportation sectors, as follows:
• Agricultural sector: Activate and strengthen the agricultural sector through the
following strategic projects:
- Creating a central market.
- Establishing an integrated project for the production of livestock.
- Establishing an agricultural land use project.
- Investing new water sources.
- Creating a factory for packaging and cooling animal-agricultural products.
- Establishing an agricultural bank.
- Creating a Water and Agricultural Research Center.
• Industrial sector: Activate and strengthen the industrial sector through the
following strategic projects:
- Creating an integrated industrial zone.
- Preparing a study to invest the resources available in the city.
- Creating a Research Center for mineral and industrial sectors.
- Setting up an investment map for the industry and mining sectors.
• Transportation sector: Promote the transportation sector through the following
projects:
- Finding free zones across international borders.
- Establishing an international airport.
- Rehabilitating the railway project.
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Strategic Direction 2:
Improve the infrastructure in order to support local economic development, through the
following projects:
- Creating a transportation complex.
- Establishing a sewer system for the city.
- Establishing green and recreational areas.
- Building an urban regional plan to manage services.
- Improving internal and external roads.
- Rehabilitating the slums.
- Creating a holistic master plan for the city.
- Solid Waste Management Project.
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Strategic Direction 3:
Raise the institutions capacity and the human resources performance and modify the
functional hierarchies of the institutions related to the development process, through the
following projects:
- Establishing a center to monitor performance and guarantee quality.
- Designing a strategy to improve the institutions performance in the city.
- Activating the decentralization project.
- Establishing a center for information systems in the city.
- Amending the systems related to the workers‟ wages and incentives.
- Issuing a law that gives the management of the land to the municipality.
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Strategic Direction 4:
Reduce poverty and unemployment through the following projects:
- Establishing a human resources training center.
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- Launching a media campaign in the city to be the main reference for all job
seekers and employers.
- Creating a recruitment center for the development and expansion of the
database in order to link the labor directorates in the Kingdom with each
others.
- Designing a strategy to connect the outputs of education with the labor market
needs.
- Amending the laws related to women's participation.
- Integrating the workers in the unorganized sector under the health insurance
and social security cover.
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Strategic Direction 5:
Improve the historical and cultural sites in the city as a mean to attract new investments and
to improve the economic growth through the following strategic projects:
- Rehabilitating Al Fadaein touristic area.
- Rehabilitating the Roman dam and creating a touristic Museum.
- Creating a center for visitors.
- Organizing annual exhibitions for Mafraq city cultural heritage.
5.6- Performance Indicators
The performance indicators are considered as a systematic requirement in the development
strategy; and after analyzing Mafraq city development strategy, we find that the strategy
includes performance indicators and evaluation standards as follows:
• Increase the income
• Increase the employment opportunities.
• Alleviate poverty.
• Increase the agricultural investment.
• Increase the exports.
• Increase the number of new investors.
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• Increase the trade.
• Reduce the traffic jams.
• Improve the quality of the environment.
• Attract new investments.
• Ensure quality of performance.
• Reduce the operational cost.
• Increase the number of projects.
Once again, we should note that the presence of performance indicators is indispensable to
evaluate the success of these strategies and their influence and impact on people's lives and
the level of services provided to them.
5.7- Monitoring, Follow up and Evaluation
Mafraq city development strategy included an action plan to follow up the implementation of
the strategy, mentioning the procedure, the project implementer, the time frame, the required
amount of money, and the funding sources. The strategy included:
• Creating a new entity dedicated to monitor the implementation of Mafraq city
development strategy and the project plan.
• Finding a professional team to support the Consultative Council in the city.
• Creating specialized units such as:
- Unit to develop the industrial sector.
- Unit to develop the agricultural sector.
- Unit to develop and promote the tourism sector.
5.8- The need to update Mafraq City Development Strategy
Whereas the city of Mafraq is located in the north-east of Jordan, and whereas its borders are
adjacent to Syria, this made it the first gate to flee from Syria to Jordan; and the stability in
Mafraq Governorate allowed the creation of Zaatari refugees camp in Mafraq city, which
imposed new conditions and challenges on the city, and also created demographic changes
and extensive pressure on the resources, the infrastructure and the social life.
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Hence, there is a need to update Mafraq city development strategy to cope with the occurring
changes and developments, taking into account the Syrian refugees influx and its effects on
the city of Mafraq and its inhabitants.
5.9- Funding Sources
Mafraq City Development Strategy was funded and supported on the financial, technical and
consultative level by local and international bodies, as follows:
1. Cities Alliance
"Financial support"
2. World Bank
"Consultative and technical support"
3. Cities and Villages Development Bank
"Logistic support"
4. The Ministry of Municipalities
"Technical and logistic support"
5. Karak Municipality
"Financial support"
5.10- Implementation Stages of the Strategic Projects
After analyzing Mafraq city development strategy, and its strategic projects, we find that the
implementation stages of these projects came as follows:
• Long-term:
- Project of rehabilitation of heritage areas
- Project of sewerage network
•
Medium term:
- Electronics factory
- Free Zones
- Project of purification, packaging and cooling of agricultural and animal products
• Short term:
- Mafraq Holistic Planning project
- Strategic plan for the municipality
- Training Center for Human Resources
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The Strategic projects included a card for each project mentioning the following elements:
- Project name
- Project background
- Project description
- Project justification
- Project objectives
- Project action plan
- Project expected results
- Project risks
- Project estimated cost
- Funding sources
- Project priorities
The potential funding sources included international, local and national agencies, as follows:
• International bodies:
- World Bank
- Grants and international aid programs
•
National bodies / public sector:
- Ministry of Planning
- Ministry of Municipal Affairs
- Ministry of Agriculture
- Ministry of Industry and Trade
- Transport Regulatory Commission
- Ministry of the Environment
- Ministry of Labor
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- Vocational Training Corporation
- Special Economic Zone
•
Municipalities:
- Mafraq Municipality
•
Chamber of Industry and Trade
• The private sector.
It is noteworthy that Jordan has adopted through the Ministry of Municipalities, with technical,
financial and consultative support, a number of development strategies in Karak, Mafraq,
Zarqa, and Tafilia cities. And the ministry tends to continue in the implementation of
development strategies in four other cities (Irbid, Ma'an, Salt and Jerash), If the funding is
available.
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Development Strategies for Palestine
Development Strategy of Al-Khalil City
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6- Development Strategies for Palestine / Al-Khalil city Development Strategy
6.1- Al Khalil
Al-Khalil is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and its history dates
back to over 4,000 years BC. This city has gained fame after the advent of the prophet
Ibrahim, where he died and was buried. It is known as Khalil ar-Rahman relative to the
prophet Abraham.
Many civilizations passed by the city and it was invaded by the Romans and the Persians;
then came the Islamic conquests under which the city has gained the special attention of the
caliphs and Muslim princes. The old town is still the same as in the Mamluk and Ottoman era,
a testament to its evolution.
Al-Khalil fell under Israeli occupation in 1967, and the occupation established settlements in
and around the old city cores since 1969. The city continues to suffer from division due to the
presence of extremist settlers who committed the massacre of Ibrahimi Mosque, which killed
dozens of worshipers. Al-Khalil surface is about 45 km2 and its population is estimated to
250,000 people.
6.2- Strategic Development Plan of Al-Khalil City
We base our analysis of Al-Khalil Strategic Development Plan on a number of key documents,
mainly the "Strategic development plan of Al-Khalil city (2008-2012)", in addition to the
strategic plan of the municipality of Al-Khalil (2013-2016), and the report of the municipality's
achievements for the year 2011.
6.2.1- Time Frame of the Strategy
The Strategic Development Plan of Al-khalil city covers the time period (2008-2012) and
supports the vision of the city, which came within the strategic development framework as
follows:
"We are working together with the participation of citizens to build and develop an
economically prosperous city in which living is comfortable based on modern infrastructure
and modern management while maintaining the cultural and civilization heritage enjoyed by
the city of Al-Khalil to become as distinguished as any other Arab and international city."
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This vision came to form the future framework of the city which was confirmed by the city
mission as follows:
"Constructing and managing infrastructure and public facilities and providing municipal
services to citizens smoothly and with transparency while preserving the cultural wealth and
heritage of the city, so that Al-Khalil remains a distinguished city providing decent living for
citizens and guests and achieving sustainable development through the optimal use and
development of human and material resources, with emphasis on the principle of partnership
in the local community and the development of systems and procedures to achive the
principles of justice, fairness and transparency. "
6.2.2- Experts, Stakeholders and Partners
The Strategic Development Plan of Al-Khalil City was built by the municipality staff and in
cooperation with all the relevant authorities of the governorate, private and public sectors,
academics and citizens; and this was confirmed by the Mayor of Al-Khalil at the presentation
of Al-Khalil Strategic Development.
6.2.3- Strategic Priorities and Directions
The Strategic Development Plan of Al-Khalil City (2008 - 2012) includes a number of strategic
priorities and directions which constitute an achievement of the city‟s vision and mission.
These eleven strategic directions are as follows:
1. Achieve economic development and reduce unemployment.
2. Qualitative development of infrastructure.
3. Social, cultural, touristic and sport development.
4. Develop, improve and diversify public services.
5. Preserve the environment and guarantee health coverage and public safety of the citizens.
6. Develop the urban, aesthetic, and planning characteristics and maintain the architectural
heritage.
7. Administrative development through electronic, technological and knowledge transition.
8. Apply the international standards and the outstanding practices.
9. Enhance the efficiency and the financial effectiveness by adopting the principle of cost
coverage.
10. Stimulate the human resources and develop their capabilities.
11. Develop and promote the participation of the local community, the partners and the
suppliers.
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6.2.4- Strategic Projects
The Development Strategic Plan of Al-Khalil city (2008- 2012) induced a number of strategic
development projects, according to the previously mentioned priorities, and we state them as
follows:
• Develop, improve and diversify the public services, through the following projects:
- Creating global public services centers.
- Creating new public service centers.
• Qualitative development of the infrastructure, through the following projects:
- Sanitation projects, through:
• Institutional and technical development of the sectors of water and sanitation.
• Drilling and operating new wells.
• Building major reservoirs.
• Installing new water networks.
• Rehabilitating water networks.
• Installing new sewer networks.
• Rehabilitating sewer networks.
• Installing rainwater drainage networks.
• Creating wastewater pumping stations.
• Building and operating a stone saws water treatment station.
• Building and operating a wastewater station.
- Road projects:
• Creating new streets.
• Rehabilitating the streets.
• Creating new sidewalks.
• Preparing a structural plan for traffic management.
• Creating new arenas.
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• Creating new centre Islands.
• Preparing a structural plan for the city new expansion area.
- Projects of electricity development, preservation of environment and provision of health
coverage and public safety for the citizen through:
• Creating a standard landfill.
• Buying waste collection cars.
• Creating a modern meat slaughterhouse.
• Creating a modern poultry slaughterhouse.
• Creating a water testing laboratory.
• Installing solar power generation units, to provide the municipality with electric capacity of
100 kW.
• Installing 80 devices to control lighting units.
• Developing SCADA system and linking it with the entire medium pressure network.
• Creating new main stations at the rate of one station each four years.
• Installing distribution networks and stations to accommodate the number of subscribers.
- Develop the urban, aesthetic and planning characteristics and preserve the architectural
heritage through the following projects:
• Preparing a certified master plan to the new expansion area.
• Completing the construction of the social housing project (KSA Grant).
• Rehabilitating and tiling the streets of the old town.
• Land settlement project in the new expansion area.
• Planning, developing and rehabilitating the neighborhoods.
• Increasing the proportion of green areas in the city, especially in the main streets and
squares.
• Creating new public gardens.
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- Social, cultural, touristic and sport development, through the following projects:
• Creating a Culture Palace in the city.
• Creating a new center for the happiness of childhood.
• Creating a museum.
• Rehabilitating Al Hussein Stadium.
• Creating a sports city serving the governorate.
- Achieve economic development and reduce poverty and unemployment through the
following projects:
• Project of construction of Tarqoumia Industrial Area.
• Establishing a special industrial area for information technology.
• Establishing an area for electronics industry.
• Creating a central station for cars.
• Developing and expanding the existing industrial area.
• Creating an investment incubator.
- Administrative development through electronic, technological and knowledge transition, by
the following projects:
• Project of restructuring the municipality.
• Project of Data and Statistics "urban observatories."
• Developing the geographic information system (GIS).
• Providing technical and technological infrastructure.
- The application of international standards and practices distinguished by:
• Creating a quality control unit.
• Developing information systems and the (GIS) systems.
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- The development and promotion of the community, suppliers and partners participation
through the following projects:
• Project of building the woman‟s capacities.
• Implementation of programs to spread awareness and education among the community.
• Implementation of programs to serve the local community in collaboration with local and
national universities.
6.2.5- Performance Indicators
The performance indicators are imperative to judge the success or failure of the development
strategies; and after analyzing Al-Khalil development strategy for (2012- 2018), or the strategy
for (2013- 2016), we find that they have included many performance indicators, for monitoring
and evaluation purposes. We state hereunder some of these indicators:
• Increasing the public satisfaction to reach 80% by the end of 2012.
• The percentage of complaints that are resolved in due time, not less than 75%.
• Completing the transactions in due time, at least 90%.
• Executing the public demands by 90% minimum.
• Increasing the number of major reservoirs by (6) tanks at the end of the period.
• Reducing losses from 35% to 22%.
• Remote control water distribution network.
• Waste recycling not less than 15% by 2012.
• Reducing incidences from rodents and insects.
• Planning and developing 60% of the city's neighborhoods.
• Rationalizing the operational expenses by 5% annually.
• Increasing the maintenance of municipal property to 80% per annum.
• Increasing the proportion of trainees from municipal employees to 70% by the end of 2012.
• Increasing the community satisfaction to 80%.
• Increasing the suppliers‟ satisfaction to 90 %.
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6.2.6- Monitoring, evaluation and update of the strategy
The existence of effective performance indicators that monitor and evaluate the works and
projects of the development strategies will be one of the most essential inputs to the process
of updating and reviewing the strategy; and in Al-Khalil Development Strategy they were
included in a special clause for monitoring and evaluation that mentioned a number of
elements as follows:
→ Objective of the review: To make sure of the appropriateness of the budget, the adequacy
of the sources, and the extent of achievement of the objectives; to ensure that the results of
the plan‟s key outputs are achieved.
→ Recurrence of the review: The strategic plan shall be reviewed every six months, or
whenever the need arises, provided that the inputs to be audited shall be the following:
• Results of the monitoring and evaluation.
• Results of the financial strategy audit.
6.2.7- The need to update the strategy
With regard to the need to update the strategy, the time frame for Al-Khalil Development
strategy (2008- 2012), which was updated by Al-Khalil strategy (2013- 2016), indicates that
there is no need for the update. And whereas the strategy of (2008- 2012) adopted a half
yearly periodical audit or whenever the need arises, and taking into account the results of
monitoring and evaluation, things remain in the scientific framework. In case of adherence to
the previous review criteria (semi-annual), or whenever the need arises (results of monitoring
and Evaluation) and in case of significant changes on the ground, especially with respect to
internal and external environment, particularly the occupation and settlements conditions,
there will be need to update the strategy.
6.2.8- Implementation Stages of the Strategic Projects
After considering Al-Khalil strategy, we find that the implementation of the strategic projects
therein is based on a number of criteria as follows:
1. Time frame: The implementation plan of the strategic projects is based on a time frame;
meaning that the implementation of these projects will be according to the timeline of the plan
(2013- 2016). The implementation of these projects will be divided annually to projects for the
first year and projects for the second year. And this is the case for the strategy of (20082012).
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2. Priority: The implementation of the strategic projects is based on the implementation
priority. We find that some of them took priority number (1), (2), (3), and it is known that the
adoption of the projects must take into account the following:
• The projects must support the vision of the city.
• The projects must have a direct impact on the lives of citizens.
• The projects must emerge from the needs (the needs of the city and the community).
• The projects must be in accordance with the priorities (in terms of impact or resources).
3. Funding: The strategic projects in Al-Khalil development strategy included funding sources
that were divided as follows:
- Projects to be implemented through the municipality and the donors, such as:
• Water and Sanitation Project.
• Drilling and operating new wells.
• Extending rainwater drainage networks.
• Creating wastewater pumping stations.
- Projects to be implemented through specific donors, such as:
• Building stone saws water treatment station: Italian funding.
• Developing a Water Quality Laboratory: Italian funding.
• Project of remote control water distribution: UNDP.
• Activating the role of the Joint Services Center: WB.
• Implementing the social housing project: KSA Grant.
• Creating a station for wastewater treatment: the World Bank and the French
Development Agency.
- Projects to be implemented through the municipal and the private sectors such as:
• Creating a modern meat slaughterhouse.
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• Developing and expanding the industrial zone.
• Creating electronics industry area.
• Creating an Industry Zone (Tarqumiya industrial area).
- Projects to be implemented by the municipality such as:
• Rehabilitation of low pressure network (electricity projects).
• Installation of distribution networks and stations to accommodate the increasing number
of subscribers (electricity projects).
- Projects to be implemented by the municipality and the Palestinian government, such as:
• Project of pre-paid water counters.
• Project of smart metering project (electricity).
• Project of development of technical workshops and warehouses (Municipalities Fund).
It is noteworthy that in addition to Al-Khalil development strategy, there are many cities that
have adopted development strategies in Palestine, most notably the following:
• Nablus city development strategy.
• Ramallah city development strategy.
• Tulkarm city development strategy.
• Tubas city development strategy.
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Development Strategies for Turkey
Izmir Development Strategy
Page 72
7-
Izmir Regional Innovation Strategy
7.1 Izmir
Izmir is the main port of the Asian part of Turkey, ant it was given the status of the capital,
with a population of approximately (2,750,000) people. It is a city neighboring the shore of the
gulf of Izmir, which is an extension of the Aegean Sea. Izmir is one of the ancient cities of
Anatolia Eyalet, extending over an area of approximately 855 square kilometers, and it
includes many colleges and universities such as the Aegean University and Izmir Institute of
Technology.
If we have to consider the Governorate of Izmir, it can be referred to as a province of Turkey
in western Anatolia overseeing the Aegean Sea and its capital is the city of Izmir.
7.2- Izmir Regional Innovation Strategy
Izmir city development strategy came to reflect the visionary and creative dimension of the
province of Izmir. This strategy, which was launched in 2012, includes an advanced vision of
the city, which aimed at supporting the sustainable development process in all sectors and
components of Izmir.
7.2.1 Experts and stakeholders
Izmir Regional Innovation Strategy was built by a number of experts, stakeholders and
working teams as follows:
Members of Ġzmir Technical Committee of Innovation:
NAME
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çağrı BULUT
Prof. Dr. Erkan ERDĠL
Prof. Dr. Necdet GEREN
Ġbrahim GÖKÇÜOĞLU
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gonca GÜNAY
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alpagut KARA
Prof. Dr. Engin KILIÇ
Mahmut KĠPER
Prof. Dr. Hasan MANDAL
INSTITUTION
YaĢar University
Middle East Technical University
Çukurova University
ÜSĠMP Executive Board Member
Ġzmir University of Economics
Anadolu University
Middle East Technical University
Technology Development Foundation of Turkey
Sabancı University
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Prof. Dr. Hamit SERBEST
Çukurova University ،ÜSĠMP Executive Board
Chairman
Prof. Dr. Metin TANOĞLU
Ġzmir Institute of Technology
Prof. Dr. Mustafa TANYERĠ
Uğur YÜCE
Metin AKDAġ
Prof. Dr. Cengiz AKDENĠZ
Asst. Prof. Dr. Melih AKDOĞAN
Bülent AKGERMAN
Okan BALCIOĞLU
Ufuk BERKMEN KOSGEB
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çağrı BULUT
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet ÇAKMAKÇI
Mustafa ÇANAKÇI
Özlem DEĞĠRMENCĠOĞLU
Mehmet ENSARĠOĞLU
Dokuz Eylül University
ĠZKA Development Council Member
Tire Organised Industrial Zone
Ege University (EBĠLTEM)
Asst. Prof. Dr. Melih AKDOĞAN
Aegean Industrialists and Businessmen
Association
KemalpaĢa Organised Industrial Zone
Directorate of Ġzmir Northern Service Centre
YaĢar University
Dokuz Eylül University
KOSGEB Directorate of Ġzmir Southern Service
Centre
Ġzmir Free Zone
Special Provincial Administration of Ġzmir
Seyyah ERDEM
Ġzmir Chamber of Agriculture
Prof. Dr. Ahmet EROĞLU
Ġzmir Institute of Technology
Nurhan GEVREK
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gonca GÜNAY
Serap SÖNMEZ GÜNDEM
Aegean Region Chamber of Industry
Ġzmir University of Economics
Aegean Free Zone
Bülent ĠLKTUĞ
Aliağa Organised Industrial Zone
Ayhan ĠZMĠRLĠ
Aegean Free Zone
Selçuk KARAATA
Sabancı University
Asst. Prof. Dr. Aziz KOLKIRAN
Prof. Dr. NeĢe KUMRAL
Onur ÖNDER
Prof. Dr. Fazilet VARDAR SUKAN
Gediz University
Ege University
Ġzmir Metropolitan Municipality
Ege University (EBĠLTEM)
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Ekin TAġKIN
Aegean Exporters‟ Associations
Ege University (EBĠLTEM)
Dr. Serdal TEMEL
Murat TOPAL
TurkStat Ġzmir Regional Directorate
Nilhan TUNÇ
Federation of Western Anatolian Industrialists and
Businessmen Associations
Prof. Dr. Tancan UYSAL
Prof. Dr. YaĢar UYSAL
AyĢe YENĠOCAK
Katip Çelebi University
Ġzmir Union of Merchants and Craftsmen Chambers
Ġzmir Atatürk Organised Industrial Zone
7.2.2- Partners and Sponsors
Izmir Regional Innovation Strategy was built in 2012, in partnership and cooperation with a
number of local authorities, which were provided with technical and consultative support by
the following:
• EBILTEM: Ege University Science and Technology Center.
• Turk Stat: Turkish Statistical Institute Izmir Regional Directorate.
• IZKA: Izmir Development Agency.
7.2.3- Strategic Priorities and Projects
Izmir Regional Innovation Strategy has been prepared for the purposes of determination of
existing R&D and innovation potential of Izmir, determination of aspects constituting this
potential, bringing out and planning of activities to increase the R&D and innovation power of
Izmir, and forming policy suggestions towards that end.
6 strategic priorities and 27 aims have been defined under the strategy, priorities as follows:
- Strengthening the research and innovation infrastructure (5 Aims).
- Developing institutional structure and capacity in science and technology fields (6
Aims).
- Developing human resources in science and technology fields (5 Aims).
- Patenting research results and supporting commercialization (3 Aims).
- Facilitating access to funding (3 Aims).
- Improving the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem (5 Aims).
Strategic Priority 1 (SP1): Strengthening the research and innovation infrastructure
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There are 5 aims defined under the strategic priority of Strengthening the Research and
Innovation Infrastructure:
SP1A1: Physical infrastructure in universities towards research and technology development
shall be established and existing infrastructure shall be improved.
SP1A2: Infrastructure of Izmir Technology Development Zone shall be improved;
establishment of specialized Technology Development Zones and Business Incubation
Centers in Izmir shall be supported.
SP1A3: Increasing the number of R&D units in enterprises and R&D centers shall be
encouraged.
SP1A4: Region‟s capacity towards creativity and design shall be increased.
SP1A5: Communication infrastructure of the region shall be developed in order to strengthen
the loca, national and international information exchange and communication with networks.
In the table below, high level plans, documents and strategies relevant to this strategic priority
are shown.
Relevant High Level Plans /
Documents / Strategies
Development Axis / Strategic
Purpose
Priority
2011-2016
Science
and
Technology Human Resource
Strategy and Action Plan
Improving the work environments
of
Science/Technology
HR
personnel
*
Developing
the
R&D
infrastructure at universities.
* Improving the work conditions
of the researchers in private
sector.
* Improving the work conditions
at public research centers
2011-2014
Turkey
Industry
Strategy Document (Towards EU
Membership)
Technological Development of
Companies
Innovation activities and R&D
infrastructure shall be prioritized
in medium and high technology
sectors,
and
large
scale
investment, co-investment and
comprehensive R&D projects
shall be supported.
2011-2016 National Science,
Technology and Innovation
Strategy
Increasing R&D and Innovation
Based Economical Gains in
Fields with High R&D and
Innovation Capacity
Analyzing existing physical
research infrastructures and
encouraging the development of
required infrastructures
Accelerating R&D and Innovation
Capacity in Demand–Based
Providing effective use of
research infrastructures
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Turkey Higher Education
Strategy
2010-2013 Ġzmir Region Plan
Fields
(research centers etc.) in parallel
to national and local demands by
developing them in interinstitutional coordination
Adding More SMEs to the List of
Those Dealing in R&D and
Innovation
Activating SMEs utilization of
research infrastructures by taking
into consideration the demands
of SMEs regarding such
infrastructures
Having Existing and New
Research Infrastructures
Constitute Basis for UBTYS
2011-2016 Strategic Approach
With the participation of all
relevant actors and in parallel
with country priorities, monitoring
the research infrastructures via a
road map and prevent
infrastructure repetitiveness
Universalizing research centers
in universities, structured
thematically by also heeding
industrial demands and local
qualities
Re-Associating the Education
Programs of High Schools and
Vocational High Schools
Housing the equipments of these
higher education institutions and
restructuring their size and
distribution
Developing Regional R&D and
Innovation Capacity
R&D infrastructure shall be
strengthened with key sectors at
top priority
Strengthening the Production
and Service Infrastructure in
Sectors
The infrastructures of OIZs, SIAs,
free zones and technology
development centers shall be
strengthened.
Strategic Priority 2 (SP2): Developing institutional structure and capacity in science
and technology fields
There are 6 aims defined within the context of this strategic priority:
SP2A1: A monitoring mechanism shall be created for the purpose of real time tracking of
innovation indicators in Izmir.
SP2A2: Implementation of innovation-based strategy and providing direction at regional scale
shall be realized by establishing an “Izmir Science, Technology and Innovation Council”.
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SP2A3: Improvement of existing university-industry interface organizations and establishment
of new ones shall be supported.
SP2A4: Project design and entrepreneurship capacities of universities and enterprises shall
be increased Project design and entrepreneurship capacities of universities and enterprises
shall be increased.
SP2A5: Innovation capacities and cooperation skills of universities and enterprises shall be
increased Innovation capacities and cooperation skills of universities and enterprises shall be
increased.
SP2A6: Innovation-related capacities and supports of umbrella organizations shall be
increased Innovation-related capacities and supports of umbrella organizations shall be
increased.
In the table below, high level plans, documents and strategies relevant to this strategic priority
are shown.
Relevant High Level Plans /
Documents / Strategies
Development Axis / Strategic
Purpose
Priority
2011-2016 Science and
Technology Human Resource
Strategy and Action Plan
Improving the work environments
of Science/Technology HR
personnel
Developing inter-sectoral
cooperation
2011-2013 SME Strategy and
Action Plan
Developing the Administrative
Skills and Institutional
Qualifications of SMEs
Developing and implementing the
cooperation culture in SMEs
Developing the R&D and
Innovation Capacity of SMEs
Increasing the cooperation
between universities and SMEs
and large scale enterprises
Technological Development of
Companies
In order to provide effectiveness
of intellectual property system,
institutional capacity shall be
strengthened, effective
cooperation and coordination
shall be provided ،and a common
and settled intellectual rights
culture shall be created at society
level In coordination with the
Information Society Strategy;
information communication
technologies shall be
universalized, companies shall
be encouraged towards
accessing information and
realizing R&D and innovation
2011-2014 Turkey Industry
Strategy Document (Towards EU
Membership)
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activities. The coordination
between science and technology
strategy and industry strategy
shall be strengthened
2023 Turkey Export Strategy
Technological Development and
Infrastructure
Relations between Public –
Private Sector – NGOs –
Universities shall be coordinated
2011-2016 National Science,
Technology and Innovation
Strategy
Accelerating R&D and Innovation
Capacity in Demand–Based
Fields
Increasing multiple-partner R&D
projects as to support spread of
knowledge between sectors and
disciplines
Creating Economical Added
Value from New Products,
Processes and Services
Obtained Through Research
Results
Establishing mechanisms that
will accelerate the transition of
completed research projects
towards commercialization
Drawing System Interactions to
Inter-Sectoral and InterDisciplinary Direction
Improving the interaction and
information exchange between
public institutions regarding
science and technology issues at
national scale
Increasing intra-sectoral and
inter-sectoral cooperation within
horizontal and vertical
cooperation by taking into
consideration the different
industrial qualities of our country
Turkey Higher Education
Strategy
Increasing the Sensitivity of the
Higher Education System
towards the Demands of Society
and Labor Market
Developing mechanisms to
strengthen the society-higher
education interaction
2010-2013 Izmir Region Plan
Developing Regional R&D and
Innovation Capacity
The cooperation between
universities and research
institutes, and between public
institutions and businesses shall
be strengthened
Improving the Urban and Rural
Infrastructure
Informatics and communication
infrastructure shall be
strengthened.
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Strategic Priority 3 (SP3): Developing human resources in science and technology
fields.
Five aims have been defined under this strategic priority:
SP3A1: Creation of sectoral human resources policies and programs shall be supported.
SP3A2: Qualified R&D personnel employment in enterprises shall be supported.
SP3A3: Restructuring of undergraduate and graduate programs in line with sectoral demands
shall be supported.
SP3A4: New programs shall be opened in Vocational High Schools and Vocational Schools of
Higher Education such as innovation and design towards the actual intermediary employee
demands of enterprises.
SP3A5: Training programs shall be created and implemented on the subjects of R&D,
innovation, entrepreneurship and industrial property rights.
In the table below, high level plans, documents and strategies relevant to this strategic priority
are shown.
Relevant High Level Plans /
Documents / Strategies
2011-2016 Science and
Technology Human Resource
Strategy and Action Plan
Development Axis /
Strategic Purpose
Priority
Increasing
Science/Technology HR and
Improving Sectoral Distribution
Developing career opportunities and
improving incomes
Programs towards growing
Science/Technology HR in line with
the R&D demands of private sector
Increasing technician and
equivalent personnel employment
Science/Technology HR personnel
aimed at the priorities and field
demands of the country
Increasing the Circulation of
Researchers
Developing national, inter-sectoral
and international circulation
mechanisms
Providing opportunities required for
qualified researchers abroad to be
employed in the country especially
in prioritized fields
Developing R&D Personnel
Employment Capacity
Employment of qualified R&D
personnel at universities
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Developing R&D personnel
employment capacity in private
sector
Developing R&D personnel
employment capacity in Public
Research Centers
2011-2013 SME Strategy and
Action Plan
Developing the Administrative
Skills and Institutional
Qualifications of SMEs
Supporting qualified labor force
employment and developing
enterprise personnel qualifications
2023 Turkey Export Strategy
Technological Development
and Infrastructure
Transition from low qualification
human capital to high
efficiency/qualification human
capital shall be realized.
2011-2016 National Science
Technology and Innovation
Strategy
Accelerating R&D and
Innovation Capacity in
Demand–Based Fields
Developing Science/Technology
human resources and providing
interaction through inter-disciplinary
approaches
Turkey Higher Education
Strategy
Adding More SMEs to the List
of Those Dealing in R&D and
Innovation
Developing mechanisms towards
increasing the R&D and innovation
oriented human resource
employment in SMEs
Re-Associating the Education
Programmes of High Schools
and Vocational High Schools
Having these higher education
institutions embedded into local
business and employment markets
Increasing Employment and
Workforce Efficiency
Vocational education shall be
developed by considering the
intermediate staff needs especially
in key sectors.
2010-2013 Ġzmir Region Plan
Qualified human resources shall be
developed especially in key sectors
Strategic Priority 4 (SP4): Patenting research results and supporting commercialization
There are 3 aims defined under this strategic priority:
SP4A1: Patenting and commercialization of research results in universities shall be
encouraged.
SP4A2: Entrepreneur researchers shall be supported in the process of commercializing their
innovative ideas.
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SP4A3: Converting patents belonging to enterprises into commercial products shall be
realized.
In the table below, high level plans, documents and strategies relevant to this strategic priority
are shown.
Relevant High Level Plans/
Documents/ Strategies
2011-2013 SME Strategy
and Action Plan
Development Axis/ Strategic
Purpose
Developing the
Administrative Skills and
Institutional
Qualifications of SMEs
Priority
Facilitating and supporting information
access of SMEs regarding
administration, institutionalization,
marketing, efficiency, quality,
standardization, industrial property
rights, information communication use
etc. fields
Developing the R&D and
Innovation Capacity of SMEs
Creating support mechanisms towards
commercialization of R&D and
innovation projects
2023 Turkey Export Strategy
Technological Development
and Infrastructure
Exporters‟ global competitiveness shall
be increased via Sectoral Leadership ،
Science-Technology and Innovation
2011-2016 National
Science, Technology and
Innovation Strategy
Creating Economical Added
Value from New Products,
Processes and Services
Obtained Through Research
Results
Providing the researchers with more
effective benefit from Intellectual and
Industrial Property Rights
Adding More SMEs to the
List of Those Dealing in R&D
and Innovation
Facilitating access to information
regarding intellectual and industrial
property rights, and universalizing and
diversifying information distribution
activities through SME R&D and
innovation supports
Increasing Competitiveness
Realizing transition to high added-value
production structure in industry and
services
Increasing
Institutionalization ،
Production and Marketing
Capacity in Enterprises
Branding shall be supported and the
number of products with geographic
indication and brand registrations within
Turkey‟ s total share shall be increased.
Ninth Development Plan
(2007- 2013)
2010-2013
Plan
Ġzmir
Region
Encouraging support for company startup based on R&D and innovation to
increase the commercialization of
knowledge and technologies
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Strategic Priority 5 (SP5): Facilitating access to funding
There are 3 aims defined under this priority:
SP5A1: Funding sources shall be developed and their utilization shall be encouraged.
SP5A2: Technologic entrepreneurship shall be encouraged.
SP5A3: R&D and innovation opportunities shall be publicized for the purpose of attracting
foreign investments to the region.
In the table below, high level plans, documents and strategies relevant to this strategic priority
are shown.
Relevant High Level Plans/
Documents/ Strategies
2011-2016 National Science
Technology and Innovation
Strategy
2010-2013 Izmir Region Plan
Development Axis/ Strategic
Purpose
Priority
Increasing R&D and Innovation
Based Economical Gains in
Fields with High R&D and
Innovation Capacity
Developing programs that will
support focused and resultoriented projects capable of
serving the country‟s economical
and technological development
Drawing System Interactions to
Inter-Sectoral and InterDisciplinary Direction
Supporting research projects that
will produce global added value
from local resources and
qualities
Having Existing and New
Research Infrastructures
Constitute Basis for UBTYS
2011-2016 Strategic Approach
Allocating funding to research
infrastructures from EU preaccession financial aid programs
Developing Regional R&D and
Innovation Capacity
Innovation centered enterprises
shall be developed.
Increasing Institutionalization,
Production and Marketing
Capacity in Enterprises
Finance capabilities of SMEs and
their capacity to benefit from
current financial grants shall be
increased
Strategic Priority 6 (SP6): Improving the entrepreneurship and innovation Ecosystem
There are 5 aims defined within the context of this strategic priority:
SP6A1: R&D and innovation culture shall be developed.
SP6A2: Infrastructure of umbrella organizations shall be developed.
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SP6A3: R&D, innovation, project preparation and design capacities of consultancy companies
shall be increased and the accreditation system shall be developed.
SP6A4: Authentic programmers aimed towards increasing the innovation and creativity skills
of public and local administration personnel shall be developed.
SP6A5: Izmir shall be made a centre of attraction for qualified labor force.
In the table below, high level plans, documents and strategies relevant to this strategic priority
are shown.
Relevant High level Plan/
Document/ Strategy
Development Axis/ Strategic
Purpose
Priority
2011-2016 Science and
Technology Human Resource
Strategy and Action Plan
Increasing Science/Technology
HR and Improving Sectoral
Distribution
Directing the youth towards R&D
fields
Universalizing the
Science/Technology culture in
the society
2011-2013 SME Strategy and
Action Plan
Developing the R&D and
Innovation Capacity of SMEs
Raising the awareness of R&D,
innovation and design activities
of SMEs, and supporting their
activities
2011-2016 National Science
Technology and Innovation
Strategy
Increasing R&D and Innovation
Based Economical Gains in
Fields with High R&D and
Innovation Capacity
By encouraging open innovation
–acknowledged as paradigm
change in present day–
,strengthening the R&D and
innovation based roles of the
actors comprising the production
chain of sectors
Drawing System Interactions to
Inter-Sectoral and InterDisciplinary Direction
Increasing the technology
generation capacity via
encouraging R&D based vertical
co operations
Adding More SMEs to the List of
Those Dealing in R&D and
Innovation
Developing SMEs‟ skills of
technology orientation and
management
Increasing Competitiveness
Developing R&D and
innovativeness
Ninth Development Plan (20072013)
Universalizing information and
communication technologies
2010-2013 Ġzmir Region Plan
Developing Regional R&D and
Innovation Capacity
Innovation, R&D and technology
awareness shall be raised
Page 84
7.2.4 Monitoring, Evaluation and Performance Indicators
The monitoring and evaluation process is considered as one of the most important tools to
judge the success of the strategies, and the effectiveness of strategic implementation. With
respect to Izmir strategy for creativity and innovation we can see that it had focused on the
"transfer of Izmir to the future and bring the future to Izmir:
Izmir Regional Innovation Strategy study has been realized for bringing Izmir to the future
and bringing the future to Izmir, with the aim of an “innovative Izmir generating
knowledge, producing and exporting technology”.
Perhaps one of the most important determinants of the effectiveness of the monitoring and
evaluation strategies is including standards and performance indicators. And the strategy of
Izmir included many of the quantitative and qualitative performance indicators, which are as
follows:
Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology
Total Number of Applications
Number of Technology Development Zones per
Province
Sectoral Distribution and Number of Employees of
R&D Centers in Izmir
Provincial Distribution of R&D Centers
Global Competitiveness Index
Top 10 Countries and Turkey in Competitiveness
Index
Relevant Institutions
Institutes and Research
Functioning Under Ministries
Small and Medium Enterprises Development
R&D, Innovation and Industrial Application Support
Application
Turkey
and
Approval
Centers
Counts
in
Izmir
Throughout
Small and Medium Enterprises Development in
Izmir
Total Number of Enterprises Applied per Year
Ġzmir Technology Development Zone
Number of Companies per Year
Sectoral Distribution of Companies
Number of Employees
Export Amounts of Companies
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7.2.5- Implementation Stages of Strategic Projects
Izmir City Creativity and Innovation strategy included a number of priorities, initiatives, and
strategic projects, and it has been built to conform to the overall strategic direction of Turkey.
And Izmir strategy projects and plans extend to 2023 conforming to the Turkish approach of
development.
 2023 Turkey Export Strategy
Science and Technology Human Resource Strategy and Action Plan.
(From 2011 to 2016)

Izmir Region Plan (Higher Education).
(From 2010 to 2013)

National Science and Technology and Innovation
(Till 2016)
It is noteworthy that a number of Turkish cities had adopted development strategies, most
notably the following:
• Istanbul city development strategy.
7.2.6- Updating the Strategy of Izmir Municipality
Izmir Municipality updated and developed its strategic plan, with a wide participation. And the
strategy included a number of key themes related to the vision, mission, and strategic goals.
Hereunder are the main features included in the strategy.
7.2.7 Time Frame of Izmir Municipality Strategy
The development strategy of the Municipality of Izmir covers the time period from 2015 to
2019. The strategy came to support the vision and mission of the city in the following manner:
• Our Mission: Imbuing equality and confidence in the authority vested by the public, and
exercising it to provide municipal services all over the city.
• Our Vision: Becoming a favorite municipality for carrying the heritage of the civilizations to
the future, presenting the richness of the Mediterranean to its citizens and to the wider
world, and making an impression through service philosophy.
• Our Urban Vision: Becoming a symbol city of democracy where one can live free and
happy in peace.
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7.2.8- Strategic Sectors and objectives
The strategic plan of Izmir Municipality included a number of relevant strategic sectors and
objectives, which were as follows:
• Governance: Liberal City İzmir through Democratic and Scientific Government.
 Strategic Objective 1-1: Offering Modern and High-Quality Services with a
Participatory and Transparent Management Perspective.
 Strategic Objective 1-1-1: Improving Management and Service Efficiency for a More
Effective Institutional Structure.
By achieving the following strategies:
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By maintaining activities for personal and institutional education and development.
By developing management and organizational processes.
By disseminating internet access throughout Ġzmir.
By providing IP based communications and integration between municipal units.
By organizing software project competitions.
By setting up GSM, smart map, data sharing services.
By extending the use of mobile apps and information systems.
Strategic Objective 1-1-2: Increasing Participation in City Management; Achieving
Continuity in Promotion and Public Relations Efforts.
By achieving the following strategies:
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By carrying out city council activities
By monitoring the press and media
By executing institutional promotion services
By prioritizing public relations services
• Strategic Objective 1-1-3 : Ensuring Continuity of the Robust Financial Structure
By achieving the following strategies:
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By providing accountability, transparency, and reliability
By increasing accrual and collection rates
By preventing tax evasion
By achieving a strong balance of payments and liquidity position
By achieving minimum costs and reasonable risk levels in terms of borrowing
By receiving credit ratings from international credit rating agencies
• Environment Management: Environment-Friendly City / İzmir
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Our Objectives and Targets:
 Strategic Objective 2.1: Creating a Sustainable City Which Improves Quality of
Life by Implementing Systems Integrated with the Nature.
 Strategic Objective 2.1.1: Creating a Cleaner City by Protecting Environmental
Health
By achieving the following strategies:
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By expanding the air pollution assessment network
By making noise action plans and preparing the noise map for Ġzmir province
By checking pest growth areas regularly and applying biocides
By executing environment conservation and control services
By executing licensing and oversight services
By acquiring a bay vessel
By monitoring the water quality in the bay
 Strategic Objective 2.1.2: Development of the Integrated Waste Management
System
By achieving the following strategies:

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By establishing and operating integrated solid waste facilities
By setting up domestic waste transfer stations
By setting up medical waste disposal facility
By setting up animal waste disposal facility
By collecting waste from ships
By operating solid waste transfer stations and disposal facilities
By carrying out activities concerning excavation rubble, construction waste and debris.
By setting up an automation system regarding the vehicles to carry construction waste.
 Strategic Objective 2.1.3: increasing the Hygiene
Slaughterhouses and Markets; Maintaining Food Safety
and
Service
Quality of
By achieving the following strategies:
 By establishing fish markets on the peninsula
 By executing slaughterhouse, vegetable market and aquatic products market services
 By building new slaughterhouses and vegetable market facilities
 Strategic Objective 2.1.4 : Fostering an Awareness of and Love for Nature in order
to Create a More Habitable Ecosystem
By achieving the following strategies:
 By executing veterinary services to protect the health of animals living on the street
 By building new animal shelters and improving existing ones
 By providing natural life park services
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 Strategic Objective 2.1.5: Rendering Green Spaces Sustainable and Creating New
Ones
By achieving the following strategies:
 By executing supply, construction and maintenance of green spaces
 By creating new recreation areas and urban forests
 By carrying out landscaping on squares
 Strategic Objective 2.1.6: Creating Systems Integrated with the Nature; Increasing
the Use of Renewable Sources of Energ
By achieving the following strategies:
 By creating ecological production and living environments
 By establishing clean energy education areas and ecological houses
 By raising awareness, and achieving coordination and research regarding
biodiversity and ecology

Urban Conservation and Planning: Livable City with a Mysterious Past and
Charming Future / İzmir
Our Objectives and Targets:
 Strategic Objective 3.1: Planning for a Livable City with Authentic Architecture and
Urban Structure in Line with the Dynamics of the City
 Strategic Objective 3.1.1: Ensuring Planned and Healthy Development of the City
By achieving the following strategies:
 By carrying out expropriations
 By preparing master zoning plans and zoning regulations and carryingout
inspections
 By executing base maps and application services
 By using geographical information systems for planning
 Strategic Objective 3.1.2: Renovation and Healthy Building and Transformation
throughout the City
By achieving the following strategies:
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By eliminating buildings in areas vulnerable to disasters
By ensuring healthy construction through building safety practices and ground surveys
By carrying out urban transformation projects
By carrying out urban design and shore landscaping projects
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 Strategic Objective 3.1.3: Importing the Historical Heritage to Active Urban Life
By achieving the following strategies:
 By supporting archaeological excavations
 By executing conservation, revitalization, and improvement activities for historical
heritage throughout the city
 By organizing cultural events and education sessions to improve urban awareness
• Urban Infrastructure: City that Makes Life Easier / İzmir
Our Objectives and Targets
 Strategic Objective 4.1: Developing Infrastructure Practices to Improve Urban
Quality of Life
 Strategic Objective 4.1.1: Carrying Out Infrastructure Works to Facilitate
Transportation Throughout the City
By achieving the following strategies:
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By building overpasses and underpasses on roads
By offering road building, maintenance, and repair services
By building bridges and bicycling roads
By building various lean-to structures throughout the city
 Strategic Objective 4.1.2: Ensuring Coordination of Infrastructure Services with all
Relevant Institutions and Agencies
By achieving the following strategies:
 By providing infrastructure information and coordination services.
 By incorporating the government agencies' works into the joint program.
• Transportation: The City That Facilitates Access through Environment-Friendly,
Uninterrupted and High-Quality Transportation
Our Objectives and Targets
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 Strategic Objective 5.1: improving the quality of travel for individuals through the
alter-native transportation structure which adopts safe, comfortable and
environment-friendly technology to meet the requirements of urban dwellers
 Strategic Objective 5.1.1: Developing transportation integration and diversifying
mass transportation with alternatives compatible with the city's fabric.
By achieving the following strategies:
 By acquiring ferries
 By building new piers, repair-maintenance units, and marinas; by enhancing existing
piers
 By engaging in suburban, tram, monorail projects
 By building neighborhood terminals
 Strategic Objective 5.1.2: Ensuring the safety and free flow of the traffic in the city.
By achieving the following strategies:
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By developing the signal system, horizontal and vertical signalling
By revising transportation master plan for the city center and adjacent areas
By building parking lots
By executing traffic and oversight services
• Social Solidarity and Health: The City Which Overcomes Obstacles Through a Social
Municipality Perspective and the Spirit of Solidarity / İzmir
Our Objectives
 Strategic Objective 6.1: Providing Preventive Medical Services as well as
Treatments, and Becoming a Leading City in Health.
 Strategic Objective 6.1.1: Increasing the Capacity of Medical Services and Offering a
Healthier Life.
By achieving the following strategies:
 By providing medical screenings
 By providing care at home services
 By providing public health trainings
 Strategic Objective 6.2: Developing social services to bring our values and
differences together in order to facilitate an egalitarian life together
 Strategic Objective 6.2.1: Providing social services and assistance in required
areas, to all sections of residents
By achieving the following strategies:
 By developing projects to provide social support and by building social centers
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 By providing assistance in cash and in kind to persons and entities in need
 By organizing the cemeteries and new burial areas, and by providing funeral services
 By providing services and projects regarding women, elderly and disabled
• Culture, Arts and Sports: The City Which Lives a Full Day and Night, and Achieves
Dynamism through Sports Facilities / İzmir
Our Objectives
 Strategic Objective 7.1: Making the city a center of attraction which lives twenty four
hours a day, with culture and arts events.
 Strategic Objective 7.1.1: Production of facilities and organizations to disseminate
culture and arts events to all parts of the city
By achieving the following strategies:
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By building new social facilities and culture centers
By preserving the history of the city, and by awarding respect for history
By organizing art and culture events
By executing library, archive, and museum services
By providing artistic works for the city
By carrying out design works
 Strategic Objective 7.2: Making alternative sports facilities accessible for all
sections of residents.
 Strategic Objective 7.2.1: Building facilities and increasing the number of events to
make sports a part of all walks of life
By achieving the following strategies:
 By building multi-function halls and sports complexes
 By providing assistance in cash and in kind to sports clubs and schools
 By organizing sports tournaments
• Tourism and Local Economy: The Design and Tourism Center of Mediterranean,
Supporting and Furthering Local Development / İzmir
Our Objectives
 Strategic Objective 8.1: Making Izmir a popular tourism and fair destination at a
global level, utilizing its natural attractiveness, and reinforcing its position in the
global economy.
 Strategic Objective 8.1.1: Ensuring İzmir's the participation in national and
international events, hosting such events in İzmir; Strengthening the city's image in
the international arena; carrying out projects to develop tourism
By achieving the following strategies:
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By increasing the efficiency of fair grounds
By attending international fairs
By organizing festivals, competitions, camps
By preparing materials to promote Ġzmir
 Strategic Objective 8.1.2: Implementing activities to revitalize local economy, with a
view to reinforcing İzmir's position in the Global Economy
By achieving the following strategies:

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By supporting revenue generating activities in the rural areas
By executing the city college activities
By attending specialization fairs
By organizing design and art events
By providing agricultural laboratory services
• Disaster Management and Security: Safe and Well-Equipped City / İzmir
Our Objectives
 Strategic Objective 9.1: Ensuring the continuity of urban environment where we can
raise our children in a safe and trusted environment
 Strategic Objective 9.1.1: Ready for fire and disasters; Fully equipped firefighters
service
By achieving the following strategies:

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
By renovating the firefighting vehicle fleet
By building new fire stations
By developing the institutional infrastructure of the
Firefighting organization
By providing trainings to firefighter
 Strategic Objective 9.1.2: Making arrangements worthy of serving as the window of
the city; carrying out audits to ensure public health and welfare.
By achieving the following Strategy:
 By carrying out routine inspections on business, traffic, environment, and zoning
 Strategic Objective 9.1.2: Making arrangements worthy of serving as the window of
the city; carrying out audits to ensure public health and welfare
By achieving the following Strategy:
* By carrying out routine inspections on business, traffic, environment, and zoning
 Strategic Objective 9.1.3: Protection and safety of service provision locations.
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By achieving the following Strategy:
 By ensuring institutional security through procurement of security services, as well
as through our own security personnel
Development Strategies for Egypt
Alexandria Governorate Development Strategy
Page 94
8- Alexandria Governorate Development Strategy
The analysis of Alexandria Governorate development strategy was based generally on the
development strategies of the governorates issued in 2008 by the Ministry of Housing, Utilities
and Urban Development / General Authority for Urban Planning, and partially on Alexandria
Development Strategy Phase II (2004-2008), issued by the alliance cities and the General
Authority for Urban Planning.
8.1- Alexandria
Alexandria is one of the three governorates constituting the province of Alexandria in addition
to Beheira and Matrouh governorates. Alexandria overlooks the Mediterranean with a coastal
strip of about 70 km north-west of the Delta, with a population of approximately (4.5) million.
The capital of Alexandria governorate is the city of Alexandria, which includes the following
neighborhoods: Al Montazah, Sharq, wasat, Al Gomrok, gharb, Amirya and Burj Al Arab city.
The inhabited area represents approximately 37.2% of the total surface area of Alexandria
governorate. The land exploited for agricultural uses constitutes the larger area by 73.5%,
followed by lands for urban uses by 24.9% and 0.7% of the areas are uninhabited.
8.2.1- Time Frame of the Strategy
Alexandria Governorate Development Strategy entitled “Alexandria City Development
Strategy – Moving from Vision to Strategy and Implementation” came to cover the period from
2004 to 2008; then the Governorates Development Strategy / Alexandria Governorate was
launched in 2008, and some of its projects cover the time period until 2017. In all cases,
Alexandria Development Strategy came to support the sustainable development in
Alexandria, and to emphasize on the vision stating that:
"Alexandria takes advantage of its Competitive endowments, better manages its local assets,
removes constraints to private Sector-led growth, with ensuring the Socio-economic
integration".
8.2.2- Experts, Stakeholders and Partners
Alexandria Development Strategy mentions a number of stakeholders and experts who
participated in the establishment of this strategy, and we can refer to them as follows:
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1. Officials and Administration:
- H.E. Mr. Adel Labib, Governor of Alexandria.
- H.E. Mr. Ezzat Sha‟aban, Acting Secretary General - Governorate of Alexandria.
- Dr. Tarik El Qiey, Chairman of the Local Council.
- Dr. Hazem Quedi, Chairman - General Organization of Physical Planning (GOPP).
- Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Director Technical Office, GOPP.
- Mr. Abdel-Gelil Al-Awady, General Director ،Housing Dept- Alexandria Governorate.
- Mr. Ali Ahmed Ali Abdellatif, Director of the Economic Affairs DepartmentGovernorate of Alexandria.
- Mrs. Nariman Hassan, General Director, Egyptian Tourist Authority – Alexandria.
2. International Organizations:
- Mr. Emmanuel Mbi, Director of Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti Country Department,
World Bank.
- Dr. Ahmed Eiweida, Sr. Urban Specialist and Task Team Leader, Alexandria
Development
- Project, World Bank.
- Dr. Ali El-Faramawy, Manager, UN-Habitat.
- Mr. Christian Voigt, Director, GTZ Urban Program.
- Mr. Frank Sader, Sr. Operations Manager and Chief Strategist, International Finance
Corporation (IFC).
- Ms. Nehad Morsi Kamel, Consultant, World Bank.
3. Regional Organizations:
- Dr. Gamal M. Hamid, Director, MENA Child Protection Initiative, Arab Urban
Development Institute.
- Dr. Ali M. M. Madibo, Urban Planning and Design Specialist, Arab Urban
Development Institute.
4. European City Representatives:
- Mrs. Rosamar Prieto-Castro, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, Sevilla City
Council.
- Mr. Xavier Borrell, Deputy Director for Economic Development, Barcelona City
Council.
- Mrs. Teresa Craveiro, Director of the Strategic Planning Department, Lisbon City
Council.
- Mr. Jean-Louis Meynet, Delegate General for Economic & International Affairs,
Grand Lyon Communauté Urbaine.
- Dr. Carlo Salone, Professor of Economics, University of Turin and Counsellor for
Spatial Policies, Piedmont Region.
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-
Mr. Miguel Rivas, Director of Sevilla Global Urban Agency for Economic
Development.
Mr. Joao Basto, Senior Executive Strategic Planning Department, Lisbon City
Council.
5. Bibliotheca Alexandrina:
- Dr. Ismail Seragldin, Director Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
- Dr. Mohamed Awad, Director of the Alexandria and Mediterranean Research Center.
- Mr. Bernard Salomé, Special Representative of the Director of the Bibliotheca
Alexandrina.
6. Academia:
- Dr. Mohamed El-Henawy, Alexandria University.
- Mr. Jean-Yves Empereur, Director, Centre d‟Etudes Alexandrine.
- Dr. Ibthal El-Bastaweesy, Professor of Urban Planning, Faculty of Engineering,
Alexandria University.
- Dr. Hesham Seoudy, Department of Architecture, Alexandria University.
- Dr. Amr Al Adawy, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University.
- Dr. Mostafa El Araby, Alexandria University.
- Dr. Ahmed Mounir, Alexandria University.
7. Business:
- Mr. Hosam Lehaita, Alexandria Business Association, Chair of EgyptTrans.
- Mr. Waseem Mohey El-Din, Chairman of Hotels Chamber in Alexandria.
- Mr. Hassan Abas Helmy, Chairman of Borg Al Arab Industrial Area.
- Dr. Mohamed Nour El-Din, Chairman of Al Nahda Industrial Area.
- Dr. Nabil Abou Hemda, Chairman of Merghem Industrial Area.
- Mr. Mahmoud Nazeem, Chairman, Alexandria Petrochemicals Company.
- Mr. Ahmed Algayar, Chairman, Alexandria Petroleum Company.
- Dr. Osman El-Gougary. Director, West Delta Office.
- Mr. Mohamed Bahgat Abd Elmoneam, Chair, Alexandria Sanitation & Drainage
Company.
- Mrs. Nadia Abdou, Chair, Alexandria Water Company.
- Mr. Ahmed Abdelaziz Ezz, Chairman, Dekhila Iron Company.
- Mr Mohamed Abdallah, Chairman, Abou Keir Fertilizers Company.
- Dr. Mohamed Moharram, Chair Environment Committee, Alexandria Business
Association.
- The Director of the Alexandria Local TV & Radio Channel.
- Mr. Ahmed S. Ragab, Vice President, Alexandria Business Association.
- Marwan Mahmoud El-Sammak, Head of Foreign Affairs Committee, Alexandria
Business Association.
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8.2.3- Sponsors
This strategy came as a result of partnership and cooperation between a number of local and
international agencies which provided technical, consultative and financial support, including:
- General Authority for Urban Planning / Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban
Development.
- Cities Alliance.
- World Bank.
- Alexandria Library
8.2.4- Strategic Priorities
Alexandria Governorate Development Strategy mentions a number of strategic goals and
priorities, as follows:
• Promote the international standing of Alexandria in the Mediterranean Basin and
strengthen its effectiveness in the field of investment and international trade, by achieving
optimum utilization of the port of Alexandria / Al-Dakhila and Al Hamra port for the export of
oil, and the Nozha International Airport, the International northern coastal road, the industrial
areas and the free zone areas, serving the export activity for the international markets.
• Consolidate the trade relations with the neighboring countries, the Arab Maghreb and
Mashreq countries and the Mediterranean region in the framework of the Arab and regional
cooperation agreements and European partnership agreements.
• Open new horizons of development in the Western Desert of Egypt to relieve crowding in
the dense city of Alexandria, by absorbing part of the overpopulation in new promising urban
areas.
• Support the activity of the free zones and ports of export (Alexandria – Al-Dakhila) and direct
more investments toward goods and services activities, such as crude oil and petroleum
products exported via Al Hamra port and the export of textile, garments, and some of the food
industry products through the port of Alexandria.
• Improve the environment quality and preserve the natural resources by maintaining the
natural reserves, establishing a number of research centers and networks for environmental
monitoring, complying with the environmental evaluation of the new projects and eliminating
the negative effects caused by the erosion of beaches, the sand encroachment and the
disposal of factories and farms waste in the lakes and waterways.
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These strategic objectives and priorities of Alexandria Governorate Development Strategy
were based on a number of pillars, most notably the following:
• Activate the benefit from the geographical location of Alexandria governorate.
• Activate the benefit from the infrastructure available in Alexandria to achieve agro-industrial
integration, thus contributing to increase the added value of the agricultural sector.
• Stimulate the export-oriented industrial activity, through the development of sea and air ports
services and communications systems and facilitate export procedures.
• Give priority to the development of the actual industrial projects and treat their imbalances,
especially the mega-projects with large production capacities and large numbers of workers,
like the spinning and weaving factories in Alexandria and the iron and steel factories.
• Encourage industrial orientation toward activities that are integrated with other economic
sectors, like the food industries that are related to the agriculture sector, the industries based
on the quarrying and Salinas products, crude oil and natural gas, and the environmental
industries that meet the needs of the tourism sector.
• Expand the establishment of small-intensive industries with simple techniques, by increasing
the projects of youth, Social Fund and businessmen associations that adopt craft projects and
small industries, as well as providing soft bank loans, processing of special areas for
workshops and small industrial business, and achieving an expansion of the industrial areas
to receive small and medium-sized projects.
• Maintain the touristic and historical character of Alexandria city.
• Exploit the multiple and diverse tourism potentials by providing new tourism patterns and
diversifying the tourism products in the governorate, to include the beach, archaeological,
cultural, and historical tourism in addition to festivals and conferences.
• Develop the museums and castles of archaeological and historical value, such as QataBey
Citadel in Alexandria.
• Make the necessary reparations to the historical monuments of Alexandria governorate.
• Benefit from the location of Alexandria governorate and city to encourage one-day visits and
quick trips, by providing convenient roads, fast and comfortable transportation means, Parking
networks to serve the touristic hubs, in addition to places on the beaches for swimming and
recreation amateurs provided with services units and restaurants.
8.2.5 Strategic Dimensions of Alexandria Development Strategy
The strategic dimensions of Alexandria Development Strategy are as follows:
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• Urban Sector:
- Finding alternatives to urban growth outside the current urban cluster, where it can
accommodate the expected population increase until 2017, which is estimated at 2.1 million
people.
- Stopping the expansion of existing industrial sites because of the problems affecting the
urban mass, and providing alternative sites for industrial activity in the new cities and on the
road to Wadi Natrun / El Alamein.
- Putting an integrated plan to reduce the random use of the governorate‟s territories and
providing the existing slums with utilities and public services.
- Prioritizing the inhabited land spaces within the current urbanization to be allocated to
education and health services.
- Putting an integrated plan to develop the existing roads and transportation networks inside
and outside the urban communities in the governorate.
- Taking measures to preserve the environment and reduce the pollution.
- Planning to preserve and develop the historical and touristic areas in the governorate.
• Communication and Transport:
- Achieving good connectivity and strengthening transportation between the existing urban
areas and the new urban extensions, as well as between the governorate and the rest of the
republic through transport network and systems (roads - Railroads - Airports - Ports Navigation) in addition to upgrading, developing and increasing the security in these
transportation means.
- Converting Cairo - Alexandria desert road to a free highway and expanding it to act as the
main connection axe between Alexandria, Cairo and the South of the Valley.
- Converting the track of Rafah - Salloum international road southwards, to pass by the south
urban cluster of the city of Alexandria, the city of Burj Al Arab and the new international
airport in a way to serve the traffic from east to west of the governorate and vice versa.
- Developing the road network in the western part of the governorate through connecting the
axe of Nitrite valley - El Alamein with a range of spin-axes and expanding it to the east to
meet with Cairo - Alexandria agricultural road to link the governorate with the center and
south of the Delta.
- Developing West Alexandria airport and raising its efficiency to become an international
airport with high capacity.
- Updating and upgrading the railway network and increasing its capacity.
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• Utilities and Services
• Drinking water
Provide the necessary water to meet the needs resulting from the expansion of the
governorate and the expected increase in population, through:
- Developing and expanding the existing stations: Maamoura - Siouf – Bab-sharqi - Nubaria Burj Al Arab, to reach its specified designed power.
- Introducing new service stations in Al Nozha water station.
- Creating a new station to meet the expansion needs of the new residential-industrial area
on the hub of (Nitrite - El Alamein) Valley Road.
- Putting restrictions and standards to prevent industrial waste in the feeding canals
(Mahmudiyah Canal) to improve the quality of water.
• Sanitation
The plans for sewage works are designed to protect the water bodies and streams from
pollution due to sewage and industrial discharges, and also to expand the sewage service to
underserved areas. Moreover, they aim to rationalize the exploitation of available water
resources and reuse of sewage water after treatment in appropriate means.
These goals are accomplished by:
- Completing the implementation of projects in Alexandria eastern area, which aim to:
increase the capacity of the existing lift stations - increase the capacity of the treatment
stations - improve the quality of treatment.
- Applying a secondary treatment system in all the stations to allow the use of the treated
water in agriculture system.
- Treating industrial wastewater before connecting it to the sewers.
• Economy Sector
The economic development strategy is based on two main axes:
- Reducing the expansions and new investments in the existing urban areas, raising the
efficiency of the current economic activities, improving the level of services and treating the
environmental pollution.
- Redirecting the economic development toward the western sector of the governorate (desert
side), in which the population density decreases, and achieving integration between the
economic activities of those areas (Agriculture - Industry - Tourism).
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The second axe aims to establish new integrated urban communities having growth and
continuity potentials (and promising economic activities) as follows:
• Agriculture Sector
Achieve development in the agricultural sector by:
- Projects of limitation and classification of agricultural lands.
- Establishment of service centers and stations for Agricultural Research in the new reclaimed
areas.
- Reclamation and cultivation of an area of 67 thousand acres.
• Industry Sector
A large industrial development can be achieved which provide job opportunities for the
governorate‟s citizens through:
- Exploitation of the agricultural production by establishing projects (food, textiles, carpets,
leather products and wood).
- Exploitation of the mineral resources available in the Western Region by establishing
projects (chemical - metal and plastic industries - fertilizer - salt - building materials - oil
production).
• Tourism Sector
Achieve local and international tourism attractions through:
- Developing tourism attraction areas and archaeological sites.
- Re-planning the western region of Alexandria Governorate (Al-Ajmi - Burj Al Arab - Lake
Mariot) and developing it to attract international tourism by creating the necessary services
and new hotels, and linking the coastal activity to other economic activities in the desert side
of the governorate.
8.2.6- Strategic Projects and Performance Indicators
Alexandria Governorate development strategy included a number of interrelated strategic
projects with their performance indicators and cost implementation. These projects are
classified by sector, as follows:
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• Investment projects in the agriculture sector
Alexandria Governorate Development Strategy included a number of agricultural projects
represented by organizational projects, agricultural services, development of agriculture and
irrigation systems, development of fishing ports, and reclamation of lands. Below we include
some of them, including the cost and the expected job opportunities to be provided, including:
- Project of limitation and classification of land with an investment cost of four million pounds.
- Establishing three centers for agricultural services at a cost of 60 million pounds, offering
300 job opportunities.
- Providing public covered sewage for an area of 500 thousand acres at a cost of 70 million
pounds.
- Developing and rationalizing irrigation systems to the area of 500 thousand acres at a cost
of 90 million pounds.
- Developing fishing ports at a cost of 20 million pounds, offering 200 job opportunities.
- Reclaiming 12 thousand acres of cultivated sugar at a cost 30 million pounds, offering 800
job opportunities.
- Reclaiming a 55-acre along Annaser canal at a cost of 120 million pounds, providing 2,000
job opportunities.
• Investment Projects in the Industry sector
Alexandria Governorate Development Strategy included several industrial projects, varying
between factories, sweets and mills projects, food, oils and canning, freezing, dairy products,
meat, mineral water, textiles, carpets, leather tanning, wood, metals, chemicals,
petrochemicals, bricks, sand and building materials, in addition to the establishment of free
zones. Hereunder some of these projects, their cost and the employment opportunities they
provide:
- Establishment of three factories for the production of sweets at a cost of 30 million pounds,
offering 450 jobs.
- Establishment of 4 mills for grain grinding at a cost of 200 million pounds, offering 120 jobs.
- Establishment of four factories for the production of pasta, pastry and biscuits at a cost of 80
million pounds, offering 600 jobs.
- Establishment of three factories to extract vegetable oil at a cost of 150 million pounds,
offering 200 jobs.
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- Establishment of two factories for processing, canning and smoking fish at a cost of 80
million pounds, offering 600 jobs.
- Establishment of five factories to mobilize, assemble and freeze vegetables at a cost of 60
million pounds, providing 1500 jobs.
- Establishment of four factories for the production of dairy products at a cost of 40 million
pounds, offering 600 jobs.
- Establishment of four factories for the manufacture of meat at a cost of 80 million pounds,
offering 800 jobs.
- Establishment of a factory for the production of mineral and carbonated water at a cost of 75
million pounds, providing 200 jobs.
- Establishment of five plants for spinning, weaving and garment at a cost of 500 million
pounds, providing 3,000 jobs.
- Establishment of two factories for the manufacture of carpets at a cost of 80 million pounds,
offering 600 jobs.
- Establishment of 4 leather tanneries at a cost 20 million pounds, offering 800 jobs.
- Completion of Alexandria industrial free zone at a cost of 15 million pounds, offering 150
jobs.
• Investment Project in the Tourism Sector:
Alexandria Development Strategy included a number of investment projects in the tourism
sector varying between tourism development, and hotels and museums projects. Hereunder
some of these projects:
- Developing Qasr Al Montazah area over a surface of 100 acres at a cost of 45 million
pounds, offering 50 jobs.
- Creating a 5-star hotel at Al Montazah with 350 rooms at a cost of 70 million pounds,
providing 700 jobs.
- Creating a historical museum at Al Montazah over a surface of 2500 m2 at a cost of 30
million pounds, providing 20 jobs.
- Creating a 4-star hotel next to the conference room, with 250 rooms at a cost of 50 million
pounds, providing 500 jobs.
- Developing Antoniades area over a surface of 100 acres at a cost of 45 million pounds,
offering 100 jobs.
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- Establishing two light and sound archaeological areas in Alexandria at a cost of 5 million
pounds, providing 75 jobs.
Following a summary of the total number of proposed projects and investments in Alexandria
Development Strategy:
Sector
No. of Projects
Investment cost
(Million pounds)
Total job
opportunities
9
394
3300
Industry, mining & oil
903
25119
75180
Tourism
18
485
3680
Total
930
25998
82160
Agriculture
8.2.7- The need to update the Strategy
Usually there is a need to update strategies based on several factors, most notably the
following:
- Time frame: Since the development strategies are based on the institutional need and the
continuity of strategic thinking, this will requires that these strategies remain in a state of
development and updating.
- Monitoring and Evaluation Results: The successful implementation of the strategy, is the
fundament of the strategic planning in general, and the development planning in particular;
hence the monitoring and evaluation reports often reveal the need to update and develop
the strategies.
- The occurring changes: The changes occurring on the internal environment level, and the
resulting strengths and weaknesses, in addition to the external environment with all social,
economic or political opportunities and threats, require the update of the strategy.
Based on these criteria, the circumstances and changes taking place in the region, and the
time frames impose the update and development of the strategy.
8.2.8- Funding Sources
As previously mentioned, Alexandria Development Strategy, entitled “Alexandria City
Development Strategy - Moving from Vision to Strategy and Implementation”, came as a
result of local and international partnership, with consultative, technical and financial support
of the following:
- Cities Alliance.
- World Bank.
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Development Strategies for Egypt
Cairo Governorate Development Strategy
Page 106
9- Cairo Governorate Development Strategy
9.1- Cairo
Cairo governorate is the political, administrative and economic capital of the Arab Republic of
Egypt, and it is one of the three governorates constituting the Greater Cairo Region next to
Giza and Qalyubiya. Cairo Governorate stretches along the east bank of the Nile River on a
length of 41.5 km 2 and 20 km south of the head of the delta. It is inhabited by 9 million
people approximately.
9.2- Cairo Governorate Development Strategy
9.2.1- Time frame of the strategy
Cairo Governorate Development Strategy, issued by the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and
Urban Development / General Authority for Urban Planning, and which was launched in 2008,
included a comprehensive analysis of all economic sectors, infrastructure, tourism, mining
and water resources in addition to the agricultural sector.
9.2.2- Experts and partners
The analysis of Cairo Development Strategy shows that joint efforts participated in its
establishment: several sectors and specialists, both from the public and private sectors,
especially the information and statistics centers. And in all cases, this development plan of the
Greater Cairo came through the General Authority for Urban Planning/ Ministry of Housing,
Utilities and Urban Development.
9.2.3- Strategic Priorities
Cairo Governorate Development Strategy adopted the overall architectural, economic and
social studies, and their interactions with each of the current local, regional and international
conditions and data. And Cairo Governorate Development Strategy benefited from the longterm strategic plan of the Greater Cairo region, which ended to identify a set of development
directions for the three governorates, in the light of the requirements of each governorate, and
the development directions on the regional level. These directions were as follows:
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- Connecting the overall development process of the governorate with the international
changes and the local orientations.
- Developing an urban master plan for the governorate of Cairo.
Moreover, the development strategy of Cairo Governorate has been based on a range of
planning and development efforts prepared on neighborhoods and regions level, in terms of
building the plan from the bottom up. In this regard, the Development Strategy of Cairo
Governorate benefited from the references of the strategic planning studies prepared for
Cairo governorate neighborhoods, mainly the master plans, the public and detailed plans, the
projects of upgrading the urban environment, as well as the new cities in the governorate.
In all cases, Cairo Governorate Development Plan is based on a number of goals, pillars and
priorities as follows:
- Controlling, organizing and managing the growing urban mass in order to improve the urban
environment.
- Determining the limits of development between the existing urban cluster and the new
regions by using recreational areas and open spaces as a limit to the urban extension while
respecting the campuses of the cities and new communities and using them in the
reclamation of lands and open areas.
- Maintaining the areas of historical value and working to achieve the integration of scattered
development projects in order to increase their efficiency.
- Re-planning the existing slums and neighborhoods with high population densities.
- Developing the transportation system between the governorate‟s regions and Greater Cairo
regions.
- Raising the level of public services, especially the recreational and open areas in the
governorate.
These priorities were based on a number of fundamental pillars which are summarized as
follows:
- Rationalizing the use of lands in order to achieve optimum utilization of areas with high
economic value and to prevent the expansion of slums.
- Depending on new cities and new urban areas to absorb the increase in population of the
governorate.
- Transferring the polluting industries outside the urban cluster into new planned industrial
zones, along with the transfer of major markets to specified places in the new communities.
- Choosing adequately the development projects so as to maximize the economic benefits of
the savings resulting from the site, the centralized services and the vastness of markets.
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- Establishing major services centers in new areas to reduce pressure on the urban mass.
- Supporting leisure tourism and conferences tourism in Cairo governorate.
9.2.4 The emerging strategic projects
Cairo Governorate Development Strategy included a number of strategic projects, distributed
among sectors, and including the cost and the job opportunities to be provided, as follows:
• Investment projects in the agriculture sector
Cairo Governorate Development Strategy included a number of agricultural projects
represented by organizational projects, agricultural services, development of agriculture and
irrigation systems, development of fishing and reclamation of lands. Hereafter some of these
projects, including the cost and the job opportunities to be provided:
- Reclamation of lands on Cairo / Ismailia desert road, on an area of 30 thousand acres at a
cost of 350 million pounds, providing about 7,000 jobs.
- Development and rationalization of irrigation systems with an investment cost of 250 million
pounds.
- Nile fish farming projects at a cost of 50 million pounds, offering 600 jobs.
- Improvement of the performance of agricultural bodies and institutions with an investment
cost of 250 million pounds.
- Livestock and poultry investment projects at a cost of 60 million pounds, offering 600 jobs.
- Creation of veterinary care units at an investment cost 2 million pounds.
• Investment projects in the industry sector
Cairo Governorate Development Strategy included a number of industrial projects, varying
between factories and projects for sweets and mills, food, oils and canning, freezing, dairy
products, meat, mineral water, textiles, carpets, leather tanning, wood, metals, chemicals,
petrochemicals, bricks, sand and building materials. Hereunder some of these projects, their
cost and the employment opportunities they provide:
- The establishment of 17 pasta and pastry factories with an investment cost of 200 million
pounds, providing 3,000 jobs.
- The establishment of 20 factories for the production of sweets at a cost of 500 million
pounds, offering 3,000 jobs.
- The establishment of 10 factories for the manufacture of juices and jams at a cost of 100
million pounds, offering 1800 jobs.
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- The establishment of 50 garments factories at a cost of 500 million pounds, offering 10.000
jobs.
- The establishment of 500 tanneries at a cost of 3 billion pounds, providing 20.000 jobs (in
Badr city).
- The establishment of 150 projects in Cairo / 10 Ramadan City at a cost of 3 billion pounds,
providing 25 thousand jobs.
• Investment projects in the tourism sector
Cairo Governorate Development Strategy included a number of strategic projects, ranging
from hotels and resorts, to parks and reserves. Hereafter some of these projects, including
the cost and the job opportunities to be provided:
- Establishing three 5-star hotels, with 1200 rooms, at an investment cost of 300 million
pounds, providing 2400 jobs.
- Establishing a hotel complex on the Nile, with 500 rooms, at an investment cost of 150
million pounds, providing 1000 jobs.
- Completing the garden area project (study) over an area of 90 acres, at an investment cost
of 100 million pounds, providing 500 jobs.
- Establishing a commercial & entertainment resort on the ring road over an area of 200
thousand m2, at an investment cost of 250 million pounds, providing about 2,500 jobs.
Find hereunder a summary of the total number of proposed projects and investments in Cairo
Governorate Development Strategy:
Sector
No. of Projects
Investment cost
(Million pounds)
Total job
opportunities
Agriculture
21
3585
42550
Industry, mining & oil
852
14985
74000
Tourism
18
1730
9500
Total
891
20300
126050
9.2.5- The need to update the Strategy
Once again we note that there is a need to update strategies based on several factors, most
notably the following:
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- Time frame: Since the development strategies are based on the institutional need and the
continuity of strategic thinking, this will requires that these strategies remain in a state of
development and updating.
- Monitoring and Evaluation Results: The successful implementation of the strategy, is the
fundament of the strategic planning in general, and the development planning in particular;
hence the monitoring and evaluation reports often reveal the need to update and develop
the strategies.
- The occurring changes: The changes occurring on the internal environment level, and the
resulting strengths and weaknesses, in addition to the external environment with all social,
economic or political opportunities and threats, require the update of the strategy.
Based on these criteria, the circumstances and changes taking place in the region, and the
time frames impose the update and development of the strategy.
It is noteworthy that the Arab Republic of Egypt has adopted many development strategies in
other regions, cities and governorates. In addition to Cairo and Alexandria, we mention the
following:
• Strategic plans of the Northern Plateau Region:
- Fayoum governorate.
- Beni Suef governorate.
- Minya Governorate.
• Strategic plans for the Greater Cairo Region:
- Cairo governorate.
- Giza governorate.
- Assiut province.
• Strategic plans for the Alexandria Region:
- Alexandria Governorate.
- Beheira Governorate.
- Matrouh Governorate.
Page 111
Development Strategies for Cyprus
Larnaca City Development Strategy
Page 112
10 Larnaca City Development Strategy
10.1- Larnaca
Larnaca is one of the oldest cities in Cyprus, its history dates back to more than 5,000 years.
The city is located on the southern shore of the island of Cyprus, and it witnessed great
developments that made it one of the most important cities in southern Cyprus nowadays.
Larnaca includes the second largest port sea, a major international airport, which is Larnaca
International Airport, and has a population of about 72,000 people. Moreover, Larnaca is one
of the most touristic cities reputable for good hospitality.
10.2- Larnaca Urban Sustainable Development Strategy
10.2.1- Time frame of the strategy
Larnaca Urban Sustainable Development Strategy was launched in the tenth month of 2014,
and its strategic and development frames extend until 2040. This Strategic Plan and the
projects and approaches emerging from it came to support and achieve the vision of Larnaca
city, which is presented below:
Larnaca: "The Gateway to Cyprus that transforms its geographical advantage to a bridge
connecting Europe and Asia. The emerging Energy Hub of the Eastern Mediterranean that
offers a unique business environment, where research, development and innovation can
flourish, encouraging employment opportunities and investments in education and state of
the art technologies, in a sustainable manner. The picturesque waterfront city, with its
traditional and welcoming countryside, its breathtaking natural beauty and long history, the
modern tourist destination for every season and desire. The city of choice that draws its true
strength from the quality of family life, the liveliness and the creativity of its people".
Larnaca. The city to live the dream.
10.2.2- Experts and stakeholders
This development strategy is the result of genuine and broad partnership with all components
of the official and local community in Larnaca, with the participation of a number of experts,
mentioned below:
• "Sustainable Development Strategies of Larnaca - SWOT Analysis" By the Local Team of
USUDS Larnaca and PA College.
• "Hydrocarbon Activities in Cyprus", Diagnosis phase. By Elefterios Embedoklis - CEO of
Larnaca Municipality & Lead coordinator of USUDS Larnaca.
• «Shift and Share Analysis for Larnaca», Diagnosis phase .By Dr. Constantinos
Charalambous – Economist, Department of research and Development Director, PA
College.
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• "Urban design and urban planning parameters of Larnaca", Diagnosis phase. By Elena
Papageorgiou – Architect, Local Team Expert, USUDS Larnaca.
• "Socio-economic Data of Larnaca", Diagnosis phase. By Constantina Constantinidou –
Architect, Local Team Leader / Coordinator, USUDS Larnaca.
• "Environmental wealth and environmental factors of Larnaca", Diagnosis phase
By Thomas Thompson – Environmental Scientist, Local Team Expert, USUDS Larnaca
• "Major infrastructure of Larnaca", Diagnosis phase .By Simos Nikolaou – GIS & Mapping,
Local Team Expert, USUDS Larnaca
10.2.3- Partners and Sponsors
Larnaca Sustainable Urban Development Strategy was built with financial assistance from the
European Union, within the framework of the Mediterranean basin network ENPI CBC, in
order to set up a strategic plan and a vision that determine the course of a sustainable
development strategy for the city of Larnaca extending until 2040.
10.2.4- Strategic Options &Tracks
Based on the city‟s vision, the strategic plan has emerged with a number of priorities and
strategic directions for the city of Larnaca, presented below as follows:
• CITY OF CHOICE: The establishment Larnaca as a „city of choice‟ to live and work, within
an environment of equal opportunities, safety, and sustainable development.
• TOURIST DESTINATION: The utilization of Larnaca‟s comparative advantages, such as
geographical location, infrastructure, natural resources, history and culture, for the
development of a sustainable touristic product.
• GATEWAY: The utilization of Larnaca‟s comparative advantage as the only city that
combines significant gateway infrastructure - such as the airport, the port, and the marina and with its central geographical location that minimizes distance between cities, in order to
develop a local economy related to logistic activities.
• ENERGY HUB: The utilization of Larnaca‟s comparative advantage in terms of energy,
infrastructure, and its central geographical location, in order to attract energy related
activities and to develop a local economy related to the energy sector and renewable energy
sources.
10.2.5- Strategic Goals and Emanating Projects
The strategic options and tracks of Larnaca induced a set of strategic goals and projects that
are summarized as follow:
• CITY OF CHOICE: The establishment Larnaca as a „city of choice‟ to live and work, within
an environment of equal opportunities, safety, and sustainable development.
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There are 12 action defined under this strategic priority:
 To provide quality living and residential conditions, through:











Provide adequate and affordable residential units, affordable for all age groups.
Provide quality living conditions for people with special needs.
Provide affordable/social housing to meet the needs of vulnerable population groups.
Connect public green spaces with residential areas.
Provide safe access (pedestrian and cycle routes), to connect residential areas with
schools, public and cultural spaces.
Reinforce the competitiveness of Larnaca as a destination for residency.
Provide complete coverage of smart information systems and telecommunications to
all residential areas.
Provide sufficient coverage of all public utilities to all residential areas [i.e. power,
communications, water, sewage and drainage, and gas].
Create public spaces for passive and active entertainment within residential areas.
Construct proper pedestrian pavements to facilitate movement by the elderly and
people with special needs.
Provide adequate parking, including disabled parking, in residential areas.
 To reduce social inequality, through:



Promote the harmonious coexistence of all cultural groups and diminish social
exclusion.
Provide infrastructure for social interaction among foreign nationals.
Create appropriate infrastructure in Larnaca for providing services to foreign nationals,
and for facilitating their adaptation to the local culture.
 To maximize employment opportunities in Larnaca, through:


Provide equal employment opportunities for every citizen.
Provide appropriate infrastructure and programs to facilitate lifelong learning.
 To upgrade safety conditions in the city, through:



Reduce road accidents and increase road safety.
Increase policing in problematic areas.
Prevent criminal and/or violent actions.

Facilitate immediate response of emergency services [police, fire department, and
paramedics]
 To ensure excellent conditions of public health and hygiene, through:


Provide health care services to all population groups, in proximity to residential areas.
Provide proper infrastructure to ensure daycare conditions for the elderly.
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






Sustain critical environmental parameters to acceptable levels.
Protect residential areas from non-conforming uses.
Provide sufficient supply, and ensure quality of drinking water.
Maintain the public and private areas clean.
Provide sustainable liquid and solid waste management.
Provide proper care and protection of stray animals.
Take actions for pest control.
 To protect Larnaca from natural disasters and climate change, through:





Monitor environmental parameters related to climate change.
Protect coastal areas from rising level of sea water.
Protect biodiversity.
Prevent and reverse desertification.
Ensure groundwater quality.
 To protect and preserve microclimate, through:


Create large green areas, in and outside Larnaka, to sustain microclimate parameters.
Sustain microclimate parameters from the impact of the built environment.
 To provide quality education of all levels with equal opportunities, through:




Establish higher education institutions in the district of Larnaca.
Establish foreign-language schools for primary, secondary and higher education.
Provide high quality supplementary facilities in educational institutions [sports, student
halls, libraries, etc].
Upgrade the Public Library to complement facilities of Universities and other institutions
based in Larnaca.
 To upgrade the quality and promote public transport use and sustainable mobility, through:



Upgrade public transport to facilitate intracity and intercity connections.
Encourage the use of alternative and environmental friendly motor vehicles.
Encourage the use of bicycles.
 To protect and rehabilitate biodiversity conservation areas, with emphasis on the
protection of the coastal front and the salt lakes, through:





Carry out enrichment planting in natural areas.
Protect and enhance areas of natural beauty, e.g. the Salt lakes.
Protect the costal front against erosion.
Conserve marine life.
Enrich and utilize the coastal zone.
 To protect and rehabilitate biodiversity conservation areas, with emphasis on the
protection of the coastal front and the salt lakes , through:
Page 116





Enrich and/or upgrade cultural activities for all ages.
Enrich and/or upgrade exhibition and museum facilities for use by all age groups.
Upgrade and promote archaeological and historical sites.
Protect buildings, or sites of historical and cultural interest.
Protect and upgrade areas of natural beauty.
 Encourage business and information centers, through:






Regenerate the Central Business District, and other retail areas.
Promote the development of a business centre.
Promote the development of a business incubator.
Establish a Municipal Enterprise information and support centre.
Establish a regional business observatory.
Create incentives for the establishment of new businesses in Larnaca
• TOURIST DESTINATION: The utilization of Larnaca‟s comparative advantages, such as
geographical location, infrastructure, natural resources, history and culture, for the
development of a sustainable touristic product.
There are 12 action defined under this strategic priority:
 To provide sufficient tourist accommodation, through:









Develop the municipal property.
Provide incentives for the modernization and extension of existing tourist
accommodation.
Provide incentives for developing new tourist accommodation.
Develop an airport hotel within the airport proximity for the accommodation of transit
and/or other passengers/visitors.
Develop a planning/economic framework of incentives for the construction of the city
hotels within the greater urban area, to facilitate transit and/or other
passengers/visitors.
Construct a luxury hotel in the designated port land area.
Provide incentives for the development of tourist accommodation in historicall
preserved and traditional buildings.
Identify and secure land for the development of future tourist accommodation.
Construct an innovative camping site.
 To provide touristic thematic projects, through:







Promote the construction of golf courses in the district of Larnaca.
Examine the feasibility of creating appropriate infrastructure to facilitate conferences
and exhibitions.
Construct a municipal market in the central business district.
Promote the construction of resort casino in Larnaca.
Construct the Saltlake Environmental Centre.
Promote the development of the Oroklini theme park.
Construct the sports park in Larnaca.
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
Promote the development of artificial reefs in the Larnaca bay for the development of
marine biodiversity.
Provide incentives to facilitate the development of sport tourism.

 To preserve, protect, and promote the natural environment, through:





Sustain microclimate parameters from the impact of the built environment.
Protect and enhance areas of natural beauty, e.g. the Saltlakes.
Protect coastal areas from rising level of sea water.
Protect biodiversity.
Create large green spaces, in and outside Larnaca, to sustain microclimate
parameters.
Carry out enrichment planting in natural areas.
Enrich and utilize the coastal zone.


 To ensure safe and sustainable mobility, and to interconnect Larnaca with all regions of
the island, by utilizing all means of public transport, through:


Create an innovative terminal station for public transport.
Facilitate immediate response of emergency services [police, fire department, and
paramedics].
Upgrade public transport to facilitate intracity and intercity connections.
Encouraging the use of bicycles.


 To improve and enhance the aesthetics of the built environment, through:





Aesthetic enhancement of the Central Business District.
Aesthetic enhancement of area with unique architectural character.
Aesthetic and functional improvements of the Foinikoudes promenade.
Aesthetic and functional improvements of the Mackenzie seafront area.
Create an appropriate body for the control and enforcement of aesthetic matters.
 To protect and enhance the Larnaca waterfront, through:






Unify the Larnaca waterfront.
Create more swimming beaches.
Ensure excellent bathing water quality.
Ensure clean and high quality sand along the waterfront.
Provide conditions for safe swimming and beaches.
Protect the waterfront against erosion.
 To promote the cultural and historical character of Larnaca, through:






Enrich and upgrade cultural activities for all ages.
Enrich and upgrade exhibition and museum facilities for use by all age groups.
Upgrade and promote archaeological and historical sites.
Protect buildings, or sites of historical and cultural interest.
Protect and upgrade areas of natural beauty.
Develop thematic, historic and cultural routes.
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
Illuminate ancient monuments and locations of special architectural interest.
 To ensure excellent conditions of public health and hygiene, through:



Maintain the crucial environmental parameters on satisfactory levels.
Protect residential areas from non-conforming uses.
Maintain public and private spaces clean.
 To provide high quality services for entertainment and leisure, through:



Maintain the crucial environmental parameters on satisfactory levels.
Protect residential areas from non-conforming uses.
Maintain public and private spaces clean.
 To encourage the development of agro-tourism, and oikos-tourism as an alternative
touristic product, through:



Conduct a study and develop regulations and incentives, for the utilization of
The existing housing stock, in order to promote oikos-tourism infrastructure in areas
of unique architectural character.
Enhance and strengthen the incentives for the creation of new agrotourism
accommodations.
 To promote Larnaca as a competitive trade centre, through:



Regenerate the Central Business District, and other retail areas.
Develop a specialized bonded exhibition centre.
Develop an innovative shopping mall within the airport proximity for passengers
and/or other consumers.
 To promote Larnaca as a tourist destination in the local and international market, through:


Create a coordinating body, responsible for the promotion of agrotourism and oikostourism in Larnaca.
Strengthen and upgrade the Tourist Development and Promote Agency of Larnaca
for the promotion of Larnaca as a tourist destination.
• GATEWAY: The utilization of Larnakas comparative advantage as the only city that
combines significant gateway infrastructure - such as the airport, the port, and the marina and with its central geographical location that minimizes distance between cities, in order to
develop a local economy related to logistic activities.
There are 6 action defined under this strategic priority:
 To upgrade the role of the airport in order to become a base airport for airlines and to
promote clustering with other airports in the region. through:

Create a specialized committee to coordinate activities and actions for the attraction
of more airlines and networking with other airports in the region.
Page 119






Develop an airport hotel within the airport proximity for the accommodation of transit
and/or other passengers/visitors.
Develop a planning/economic framework of incentives for the construction of city
hotels within the greater urban area, to facilitate transit and/or other
passengers/visitors.
Develop an innovative shopping mall within the airport proximity for passengers
and/or other consumers.
Create a terminal station and mobility centre for public transport within the airport
proximity.
Expand and/or upgrade existing airport facilities to facilitate future traffic volumes.
Examine the impact of a future settlement of the Cyprus problem to the role of
Larnaca vs. Tymvou Airport.
 To attract industrial, storage and office developments close to the airport area, related to
airport activities, through:


Create appropriate zoning and infrastructure to serve specialised office developments
associated with the airport‟s functions.
Create appropriate infrastructure to accommodate industrial and storage units
associated with the airport‟s functions.
 To attract industrial, storage and office developments close to the port area, related to
airport activities. through:









Examine the impact of a future settlement of the Cyprus problem to the role of Larnaca
vs Ammochostos port.
Create a specialized committee to coordinate activities and actions for the attraction of
cruises and promotion of Fly and Cruise tourism.
Conduct a study for the design and implementation of a sustainable transportation
system and develop the appropriate infrastructure for the enhancement of vehicular
and pedestrian movement, between the port, marina and the city.
Construct a luxury hotel in the designated port land area.
Construct leisure/entertainment establishments in the designated port-marina land
area.
Construct a study and architectural competition for large cultural/touristic and other
enriching projects in the designated port-marina land area.
Upgrade the commercial facilities of the port for passengers and visitors.
Expand/Upgrade the existing port facilities.
Conduct studies to explore the possibility of relocating port facilities to the airport area
and transform the existing port into a mega yacht marina.
 To expand and upgrade the Marina in order to accommodate more vessels and Mega
Yachts, and to develop the designated Marina land area. through:



Develop high profile residential units in the designated Marina land area to serve the
permanent and the holiday accommodation.
Attract services related to the activities to the Marina and supplementary to the existing
office stock of the city.
Expand and/or upgrade the existing Marina infrastructure.
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 To attract and facilitate Logistic activities in Larnaca, such as storing, handling and
transporting goods, bonded warehouses as well as to develop bonded exhibition centre,
through:


Develop a logistic village [special zone and planning regulations] in Larnaca.
Develop a specialized bonded exhibition centre.
 To interconnect Larnaca with all regions of the island, by utilizing all means of public
transport, through:






Create an innovative terminal station for public transport.
Create “park and ride” infrastructure.
Upgrade and modernize the public transport fleet through transportation municipal
company.
Conduct a study to optimize the frequency of routes and pricing policies of public
transport and monitor the implementation.
Develop an innovative transport information system for the travelers in Larnaca, intracity and intercity.
Conduct/Upgrade a transportation study for Larnaca.
• ENERGY HUB: The utilization of Larnaca‟s comparative advantage in terms of energy,
infrastructure, and its central geographical location, in order to attract energy related
activities and to develop a local economy related to the energy sector and renewable energy
sources.
There are 7 action defined under this strategic priority:
 To attract the energy sector infrastructure in Larnaca, through:







Develop the energy centre at the Vasilikos area, to facilitate all the activities of the
energy sector.
Investigate/study the possibility of creating an energy port.
Investigate/study the possibility of utilizing the port of Larnaca to facilitate the logistic
activities of the energy sector without restricting other port uses [passenger,
commercial] or harming the environment.
Develop specialized infrastructure at the airport to facilitate the energy sector.
Establish adequate facilities at the Vasilikos energy centre for the management and
recycling of the wastes produced by the energy processes [drilling etc].
Create an observation body for monitoring the impact of the energy facilities and for
ensuring health conditions, hygiene, safety and environmental quality.
Contact studies to explore the possibility of relocating the logistic port facilities of the
energy sector to the airport area.
 To attract in Larnaca energy sector economic activities, through:

Develop a heavy industrial area/zone for industrial units of the energy sector.
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
Develop a light industrial area/zone for industrial units and warehouses of the energy
sector.
 To attract in Larnaca government, semi-government and NGO departments related to the
energy sector, through:



Develop a specialized office area/zone for housing/relocating government departments
and offices related to the energy sector.
Locate a Crisis Management Centre for the energy sector in Larnaca.
Locate the unit responsible for surveillance and safety of the energy infrastructure in
Larnaca.
 To attract private businesses and economic activities related to the energy sector in
Larnaca, through:


Create energy Non Governmental Organizations [NGOs] to promote Larnaca as an
energy centre and to coordinate the activities of the private sector.
Provide planning and other incentives for the expansion and modernization of office
space to meet the energy sector‟s needs.
 To promote research and innovation related to energy and sustainable energy sources,
through:


Develop a technology and innovation park.
Examine the feasibility of creating appropriate infrastructure to facilitate conferences
and exhibitions.
 To establish academic institutions related to the energy sector in Larnaca and to promote
the city as a regional energy knowledge centre, through:




Establish a university, or other academic institutions specialized in energy and
sustainable energy studies.
Upgrade the existing colleges into universities, and/or provide specialized training
programs on energy related subjects.
Upgrade the Public Library, or create a new library for energy subjects in cooperation
with other university libraries.
Provide incentives for the location in Larnaca of the energy companies‟ regional
training centers.
 To promote the use of renewable energy sources and the energy saving measures and to
reduce CO2 emissions, through:





Provide incentives for investments in the production of energy from renewable sources,
for domestic purposes.
Promote the investments in the production of energy from renewable sources to
supplement existing conventional energy sources.
Carry out energy conservation measures for street lighting.
Promote energy conservation measures in transportation.
Promote public awareness activities for energy conservation
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10.2.6- Monitoring and Implementation
The successful implementation of cities‟ strategic development plans and the achievement of
results, is one of the most important tools for judging the development strategies, and
measuring the impact and implications on the citizens, on the quality of services, on raising
awareness, and on promoting positive behavior of the city and the citizens alike. In this
context, Larnaca sustainable urban development plan has adopted a general framework for
implementation, using the following:




The formulation and continuous adjusting through participatory processes and public
consultation of the, sustainable development strategy
The appointment of a powerful central body, in the Municipality Larnaca for the
development, monitoring, adaptation and implementation of the Action Plan.
Provision of adequate staffing of municipal services and development of policy training
and continuing education.
The close and constant cooperation with the social partners.
In this context, Larnaca sustainable urban development plan has adopted a set of general
implementation frameworks related to execution, monitoring, following up and reviewing, as
follows:
• Implementation: Larnaca City Sustainable Development Strategy was based on the
following for the implementation of the plan:
 Restructuring of Municipal Service - Appointment of Strategic Planning Team –
Staffing.
 Implementation of the training program.
 Empowerment of the Public Procurement Team.
 Designation of the Project Manager at Political and Departmental level.
 Appoint the financial planning and budget implementation team.
• Monitoring and Control, through the following:
 Defining Political monitoring and control of the implementation of the Strategic Plan.
 Scheduling the planning control of implementation. Determining and approving of the
Monitoring Plan.
 Establishing assessment criteria for qualitative implementation of the objectives.
 Determining the process for public updating about the progress of the Strategic Plan
implementation.
• Reviewing, through the following
 Appointment of the Steering Committee with the social partners for the necessary
revisions of the Strategic Plan.
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 Scheduling periodic [annual] revisions of the Diagnostic Study.
 Defining the public consultation process for any divergencies from the Strategic Plan.
10.2.7- Funding Sources
Larnaca Sustainable Development Plan was funded by the European Union, within the
framework of the Mediterranean basin network ENPI CBC, in order to set up a strategic plan
and a vision that determine the course of a sustainable development strategy for the city of
Larnaca extending until 2040.
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Contents of another analysis at the macro level of the
development strategies for Mashreq Countries
Page 125
11- Strategies for Mashreq Cities
The analysis of development strategies for Mashreq countries shows that many cities have
adopted urban strategic development planning, and they are as follows:
No.
Country
Cities that have build development strategies
1
Lebanon
Al Fayhaa Urban Community, Dannieh Union of Municipalities,
Jezzine Union of Municipalities, Zgharta, Jbeil district, Batroun
District, Saida, Tyre, Upper Metn, Beirut
2
Jordan
Karak, Tafilah, Zarqa, Mafraq
3
Palestine
Al-Khalil, Nablus, Ramallah, Tolkarem, Tobas
4
Turkey
Izmir, Istanbul
5
Cyprus
Larnaca
6
Egypt
Fayoum, Beni Sweif, Al Minya, Al Beheira, Matrouh, Cairo, Jizza,
Alexandria, Al Qaliyubia
7
Syria
Aleppo
12- The Impact of City Development Strategies
There is no doubt that development strategies have a positive impact on the state of cities
and municipalities, but this impact varies from one city or municipality to another, according to
a number of variables. The following are the most important to consider:
• The degree of conviction and the support and commitment of those in charge of the
municipalities, in particular the president and members of the municipal council.
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• The continuity of the strategic development thinking, as an institutional approach not linked
to persons, hence the emphasis on finding administrative and institutional supporting entities
like the imperative presence of:
→ Local development units
→ Project management units
→ International cooperation units
→ Monitoring and Evaluation Office
• Provide the necessary funding for the implementation of projects.
• Provide coordination and integration among the municipality and other executive entities in
the city.
• The availability of the crowd and the investment of relations and community to support the
municipality, its vision and strategic objectives, and in particular the city reputed persons,
the deputies and the activists.
• The ability to address international organizations and donors to convince them with the
feasibility and impact of the projects, in order to obtain the necessary funding for
implementation.
In all cases, these strategies remain a need with great impact. For example, the analysis of
Al-Fayhaa Sustainable Development Strategy, the completed projects and those to me
implemented, in addition to the ability of the team and the faith of the Municipal Council, show
that the strategy will positively affect the state of the community and its citizens. It will be the
same for the development strategy of Al-Khalil city. Also, the follow-up of Mafraq city
development strategy reveals that the Jordanian government has adopted a developing area
in Mafraq, and a range of projects like the improvement of water, health, education and
agriculture situations, in addition to the immediate response to the developmental
requirements of the city, especially in light of the influx of Syrian refugees to it.
In this regard, we must point out the need to conduct in-depth studies on this topic in the
future, to find out the impacts of development strategies on the actual state of the cities, and
the extent of progress and positive change happening. The study shall be based on the
analysis of the actual state of the city whether at the level of the services provided by the
municipality, or at the level of the water, industrial, educational, health, and tourism sectors
and their impacts on the lives of citizens and on reducing poverty, unemployment and crime
levels. Through this study that will hopefully be conducted by the KTC, we can recognize the
successful experiences and the best lessons learned from these strategies.
13- Donors and Supporters
Below are the basic parties funding and supporting the development strategies for Mashreq
countries:
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No.
Supporting Party
Type of Support
Some development
strategies supported
by international,
national and local
parties
1
World Bank
Financial, technical &
consultative
Mafraq, Karak, AlFayhaa, Alexandria
2
Cities Alliance
Financial & technical
Mafraq, Karak, AlFayhaa, Alexandria
3
UNDP
Financial
Dannieh, Jezzine
4
Mediterranean Cities Network
Financial & technical
Al-Fayhaa
5
UN-Habitat
Financial &
consultative
Al-Fayhaa
6
EU
Financial
Larnaca
7
Relevant ministries and authorities:
Ministry of Municipalities, Ministry of
Interior, Ministry of Housing, Utilities &
Urban Planning, Public Authority for
Urban Planning, Izmir Development
Agency
Technical,
administrative, logistic
Karak, Mafraq,
Alexandria, Cairo,
Izmir
8
Municipalities
Financial,
administrative, logistic
Mafraq, Karak
Financial &
administrative
Mafraq, Karak
9
Relevant banks: Cities
& Villages Development Bank
Al- Khalil
There is also another group of potential donors and supporters, to fund development
strategies, including:
→ Arab Towns Organization (ATO) / Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI)
→ EU.
→ Specialized international agencies:
• Japanese JICA
• French Development Agency (AFD)
• Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID)
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• German Cooperation Agency (GIZ)
• Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
• US Agency for International Development (USAID)
→ Urban Poverty World Wide Web
→ Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD)
→ United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
→ Governorates Development Fund / Jordan
14- Sponsors and supporters at the international, national and local levels
Municipalities and cities in the Mashreq countries, have many donors and supporters, at the
international, national and local levels. In this context, we can refer to a number of supporters
to municipalities in general, and to development strategies in particular, presented as follows:
Country
International supporters
National supporters
Local
supporters
Sponsors
Jordan
World Bank
Ministry of Municipalities
Municipalities
Ministry of
Municipalities
Unions of
Municipalities
Ministry of
Interior
Cities Alliance
UNDP
Ministry of Interior
UN-Habitat
US Development Agency
Cities & Villages Development Bank
Gulf Grant
Governorates Development Fund
Universities
Lebanon
World Bank
Cities Alliance
Ministry of Administrative Development
UNDP
UN-Habitat
Council for Development &
Reconstruction
Urban
Observatory
EU
Med cities network
Hariri Foundation
UN-Habitat
AFD
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UNEP
Kuwaiti Fund
Palestine
World Bank
Local Governance Ministry
Universities
Municipalities Fund
Private sector
EU
UNDP
Local
Governance
Ministry
UN-Habitat
KSA Grant
Universities
Italian Grant
AFD
US Development Agency
Egypt
World Bank
Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban
Development
Municipalities
Cities Alliance
UNDP
Local councils
Ministry of Interior
Ministry of
Housing,
Utilities and
Urban
Development
UN-Habitat
EU
Private sector
Public Authority for Urban Planning
US Development Agency
International Financial
Institution
Private sector
Public
Authority for
Urban
Planning
Universities
German Agency
Arab Urban Development
Institute
15- Donors’ orientations and actual position toward financing development strategic
projects
Through communication with the stakeholders in the Ministry of Municipalities in Jordan, and
through follow-up and analysis, we note that there are changes in the orientations of
international organizations and donors towards funding development strategies in the region,
in the following manner:
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• Some donors have changed their strategies and tools, and directed their financial and
consultative orientations towards projects related to the reduction of poverty and
unemployment, instead of funding development strategies, like the Cities Alliance.
• Many of the major international donors changed their priorities, and became concerned with
immediate response to crisis and treatment of effects, on top of which is the Syrian
refugees‟ crisis, with all the incoming effects on refugees and host communities. And
Mafraq city development strategy constituted an important source for these donors.
• Some donors like the United Nations Development Program, started to launch some
integrated programs, such as building capacity, crisis response and mitigation. Within this
program they build development plans for municipalities, or rehabilitate human resources to
help municipalities take the lead in building development plans.
• Changes in priorities at the national level, like the sponsoring municipalities and the ministry
of municipalities , also in response to the crises and their effects, mainly the Syrian
refugees‟ crisis; and in Jordan for example, the subject of solid waste management has
became today the top priority of the ministry‟s projects.
16- Orientations of Mashreq Cities towards Strategic Development
Whereas cities and municipalities are administrative entities and organizations managed by
municipal councils and administrative executive bodies of diversified specializations, the
orientations of Mashreq cities and municipalities in general, vary concerning strategic
planning and development. After follow up and research, we can mention three orientations,
as follows:
• The high positive orientations towards strategic planning in general and towards strategic
development planning in particular are linked to the successful implementation of the
strategies according to the adopted performance indicators, and to the real impact and
reflection of these strategies on the city, the municipality, the citizens and the local
communities.
• The medium positive orientations towards strategic planning and strategic development
planning are related to the achievement of some successes in the strategic implementation.
• The non positive orientations towards strategic planning in general are related to the lack of
knowledge and real experience. In this case, the city and the municipality suffer from deep
problems in its economic and social structure, from elevation in poverty, unemployment and
crime rates, from lack of services, increase in pollution, and bad administration.
Based on follow up and previous experience, we can say that the orientations of
municipalities and cities represented by the municipal councils and governors are mostly
medium positive orientations that may be enhanced through further dialogue and debate with
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the experts, especially if they realize the importance of these strategies, and how they
constitute a scientific reference to the actual situation of the city and its future aspirations and
vision. These positive orientations may be reinforced even more if the municipal councils and
governors were informed how these development strategies constitute a real gateway to
reach international donors and organizations, to provide support and funding, and build
abilities. And it is a strong proof of the transparency of the municipal council and its
continuous pursuit for improvement and development, which will be reflected positively on the
lives of citizens and the quality of municipal services provided to them. And in this instance,
such a subject need more research and investigation to find out the cities and municipalities
orientations towards strategic development planning, according to a set of assumptions and
independent and dependent variables.
17- Cities willing to build development strategies
Through communication with many municipalities, particularly in Jordan, concerning their
willingness to adopt development strategies of their own, we have reached the following facts:
• Many of these municipalities have the willingness and the real core to launch development
strategies, based on the following:
• Most of these municipalities have certified administrative units specialized in local
development under the name of "local development units".
• Most of these municipalities have an analysis of the economic and social situation, but it
definitely needs updating and development.
• Most of these municipalities have development plans that have been associated in most
cases with persons or time periods. Many of them were not completed and they certainly
need development and updating.
• Upon addressing the mayors about these development strategies, the positive
orientations towards the importance and necessity of these plans will be enhanced.
• In Jordan, for example, the Ministry of Municipalities is the sponsor through which donors
communicate with these municipalities.
• The ministry is willing to launch development strategies in four Jordanian cities, which are:
* Irbid
* Salt
* Maan
* Jerash
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• The ministry knocked on donors‟ doors for funding these strategies, but they did not get any
response, because the priorities have changed due to current circumstances for both donors
and municipalities, especially in light of the Syrian refugees‟ crisis, and the need for
immediate response to alleviate the suffering of refugees and host communities alike.
In all cases, the identification of the cities and municipalities orientations towards the strategic
development planning, and the adoption of development strategies, is an important topic that
needs more analysis, through future surveys and through knowledge transfer centers; this
research should start from the assumption that cities and municipalities have a positive
attitude towards strategic development planning
18- Problems and challenges facing the working teams preparing the development
strategies
The completion of the development strategies of cities and municipalities with high quality and
in accordance with the approved methodologies, and within the planned time frame, is one of
the most important challenges. As a result of communication with stakeholders and experts in
this field, and through research and observation, we can include a set of problems and
challenges facing the working teams preparing the development strategies, as follows:
• Problems related to the data: The lack of available data, statistics and information is
considered as one of the most important challenges facing the teams preparing strategies in
general and developmental strategies in particular. To overcome this problem, the team
should:
* Procure its data and statistics from specialized centers and authorities, like the public
statistics centers and the adopted Surveys, in order to guarantee credibility and reliability.
* Split and distribute tasks between team members, based on the tasks and
specializations.
* Invest and build a network of positive relations with the relevant executive and sectoral
bodies.
• Problems related to methodologies: Problems often occur concerning the methodologies
used for the completion and construction of development strategies, and in this regard, it is
important to:
* Follow the approved scientific methodologies in this area.
* Have a professional party, counselor and supervisor of the outputs to ensure
compliance with methodologies and conditions.
* Have a project manager and a work team next to the counselor.
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• Problems with the format: This is one of the problems that lead to delays in the project and
affect the quality of the product, and by this we mean coordination between partners,
stakeholders, and beneficiaries, so as to ensure the standardization of vision, and the
execution of workshops in due time; and here lies the importance of having a project
manager who can solve all outstanding issues.
• Problems related to conflict management: In some cases, more than one party are
involved in the development strategy project: the Ministry of Municipalities and the Ministry
of Interior next to the municipality; and sometimes, if the people involved, like the mayor, the
governor and the minister, are not in harmony, lots of obstacles, problems and delays will
occur; and here comes the ability of the adviser to successfully manage the conflict, and to
identify the tasks and responsibilities of each one of these entities, manage the project, and
deal with stakeholders effectively.
• Problems concerning the provision of location, tools and logistics: Related to providing
the supplies and the halls needed for the workshops. The team should develop a clear plan
to complete the project, set the dates for the workshops, book the halls and provide the tools
correctly, and any failure in providing one of the aforesaid will negatively affect the overall
picture, and cause the resentment of the participants.
19- Role played by the Knowledge Transfer Center (KTC)
Knowledge Transfer Centers are one of the most important tools that can be used by cities
and municipalities in order to promote positive attitudes among mayors, governors, local
communities and relevant ministries. They are as important and necessary as the
development strategies, and they constitute the most important way to ensure a sustainable
development status in the cities, and its positive impact on the lives of citizens and the
quality of municipal services provided to them. Therefore, the Knowledge Transfer Centers
can play a key role in this area through the following:
• Building a database specialized in development strategies for the region.
• Building a database of experts and specialists in the field of development strategies of cities
and municipalities.
• Networking with all the cities that launched their development strategies or which have the
intention to do so.
• Networking with all international donors concerned in development strategies for cities.
• Conducting research and studies specialized in development strategies in general, and in
the analysis of the impact of development strategies at the city and its citizens in particular.
• Disseminating success stories, and best experiences in development of strategies for cities
and municipalities.
• Disseminating learned lessons, methodologies and mechanisms of action to build
development strategies for cities and municipalities.
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• Holding conferences and forums specializing in the field of development strategies for cities.
• Building human resource capacity in the cities, municipalities and development units,
regarding strategic planning and development.
• Circulating invitations related to new development strategies projects, and providing
technical support to the cities in order to write down their proposals and put notes on them.
• Reviewing the strategic development plans for the "selected cities" and build the strategic
plans for their own projects.
• Supporting the organization of regional workshops that help to spread the strategic
development thinking and the project‟s implementation tools.
• Providing evidence and methodologies for building cities development strategies.
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The Results
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20- The Results
In light of the analytical report of the development strategies for Mashreq countries, and
according to the limits and scope of the project, we can point out the following results:
First: recent experience: The development strategies for Mashreq countries are relatively
recent, extending between 2004 and 2014. Al Fayhaa Development strategy was issued in
October of 2011, Karak and Mafraq cities development strategies were issued in 2012,
development strategy of Dannieh region also was issued in 2012, and the strategy of the city
of Al Khalil in its first version was issued in 2008 and in its second version in 2013, the
strategy of Izmir in 2012, Alexandria in 2004, Cairo in 2008, and Larnaca in 2014.
Second: Orientations towards development strategies: Based on follow up and analysis,
we can say that the orientations of municipalities and cities represented by the municipal
councils and governors are mostly medium positive orientations that may be enhanced
through further dialogue and debate with the experts, especially if they realize the importance
of these strategies, and how they constitute a scientific reference to the actual situation of the
city and its future aspirations and vision. These positive orientations may be reinforced even
more if the municipal councils and governors were informed how these development
strategies constitute a real gateway to reach international donors and organizations, to
provide support and funding, and build abilities. And it is a strong proof of the transparency of
the municipal council and its continuous pursuit for improvement and development, which will
be reflected positively on the lives of citizens and the quality of municipal services provided to
them. And in this instance, such a subject need more research and investigation to find out
the cities and municipalities orientations towards strategic development planning, according to
a set of assumptions and independent and dependent variables.
Third: Impact of strategies: There is no doubt that development strategies have a positive
impact on the state of cities and municipalities, but this impact varies from one city or
municipality to another depending on the degree of conviction, commitment and continuity of
strategic development thinking, as an institutional approach not linked to persons, hence the
emphasis on finding administrative and institutional supporting entities like local
development units, project management units and international cooperation units. In all
cases, these strategies remain a need with great impact. For example, the analysis of AlFayhaa Sustainable Development Strategy, the completed projects and those to me
implemented, in addition to the ability of the team and the faith of the Municipal Council,
show that the strategy will positively affect the state of the community and its citizens. It will
be the same for the development strategy of Al-Khalil city. Also, the follow-up of Mafraq city
development strategy reveals that the Jordanian government has adopted a developing
area in Mafraq, and a range of projects like the improvement of water, health, education and
agriculture situations, in addition to the immediate response to the developmental
requirements of the city, especially in light of the influx of Syrian refugees to it.
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Fourth: Methodologies: The building of development strategies was based on
methodologies represented by the analysis of the state of cities and the determination of their
strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, in addition to identifying the city‟s
vision, strategic directions and pathways in addition to the emerging strategic projects.
Fifth: Partnership: All development strategies, subject of this research, have been built in
partnership with cities, municipalities and all communities‟ components, from the public and
private sector, civil society organizations, associations, universities, trade unions, chambers of
industry and commerce, students, unemployed persons, and executive and consultative
Councils.
Sixth: Funding: Most development strategies have received funding and financial, technical
and consultative support from international, national and local parties. At the international
level, the financial and advisory support was represented by the World Bank, the Cities
Alliance and the United Nations Development Program. At the national level, the technical,
administrative and logistical support was represented by many authorities, like ministries and
public banks: the Ministry of Municipalities in Jordan, the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and
urban Development in Egypt, Cities and Villages Development Bank in Jordan, the Public
Authority for Urban Planning in Egypt. And at the local level, the administrative and logistical
support was provided by the municipalities and in some cases they ensured financial
participation like in Jordan.
Seventh: Strategies Updating: Most development strategies included herein need to be
updated for several reasons, including:
• Considerations and variables in the internal environment, particularly those related to
demographic changes resulting from the influx of Syrian refugees to neighboring
countries, and its impact on municipalities and community and the pressure imposed
on services, infrastructure, and employment opportunities; this is particularly
applicable in Al-Fayhaa Urban Community, and Danniyeh in Lebanon, and Mafraq city
in Jordan.
• Considerations for changes in the political, economic and social conditions, as the
strategies of Alexandria and Cairo Governorates, in addition to the occupation and
settlements conditions in the city of Al-Khalil.
• Considerations related to evaluation and achievement of results, as the performance
indicators are one of the basic requirements in the construction of development
strategies, and the subsequent monitoring and evaluation, and as the results of the
strategic implementation reports provide an indication of the success of the strategies
and the achievement of results on the one hand, and the need to update on the other
hand.
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Eighth: Project Financing: Most cities and municipalities suffer from a severe shortage of
financial resources and most of their finances go to cover salaries and administrative
expenses, meaning that cities and municipalities are incapable of implementing strategic
projects, which imposes the following on these cities:
• Thinking in an innovative way to implement strategic projects according to the priorities and
impacts criteria.
• Enhancing their ability to address specialized international organizations to obtain the
necessary funding for these projects.
• Adopting a scientific plan for the promotion and marketing of the development strategy.
• Activating a true partnership with the private sector to contribute, and a partnership with the
cities and municipalities to implement the strategic projects, while promoting and activating
the community responsibility in the private sector.
• In addition to the importance of reviewing and managing the financial plans, to conform to
the requirements of development and investment, especially in light of the changes in the
orientations of many donors.
Ninth: donor trends and current position: There are changes in the orientations of the
international organizations and donors to funding development strategies, as follows:
• Some donors have changed their strategies and tools, directing their financial and advisory
support towards projects related to the reduction of poverty and unemployment, instead of
funding development strategies, like the Cities Alliance.
• Many of the major international donors changed their priorities, and became concerned with
immediate response to crisis and treatment of effects, on top of which is the Syrian
refugees‟ crisis, with all the incoming effects on refugees and host communities. And Mafraq
city development strategy constituted an important source for these donors.
• Some donors like the United Nations Development Program, started to launch some
integrated programs, such as building capacity, crisis response and mitigation. Within this
program they build development plans for municipalities, or rehabilitate human resources to
help municipalities take the lead in building development plans.
• Changes in priorities at the national level, like the sponsoring municipalities and the
ministry of municipalities , also in response to the crises and their effects, mainly the Syrian
refugees‟ crisis; and in Jordan for example, the subject of solid waste management has
became today the top priority of the ministry‟s projects
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References
Page 140
References
1- Urban Community Al Fayhaa, Al–Fayhaa Urban Sustainable Development Strategy,
Tripoli, Lebanon, October 2011.
2- Urban Community Al Fayhaa, Strategic projects, Tripoli, November, 2010.
3- Urban Community Al Fayhaa, Methodology, diagnosis and strategic frame, Tripoli,
November, 2010.
4- Dannieh Union of Municipalities, Territorial Strategic development plan of Dannieh
region, Lebanon, 2012.
5- Ministry of Municipalities, Mafraq city development strategy, Amman, 2012.
6- Ministry of Municipalities, Karak city development strategy, Amman, 2012.
7- Al Khalil Municipality, Development Strategic Plan of Al Khalil city 2008-2012, Al Khalil,
2008.
8- Al Khalil Municipality, Achievements Report of Al Khalil Municipality, Al Khalil, 2011.
9- Izmir, Izmir Strategy, Izmir, 2012.
10- Ministry of Housing, Utilities & Urban Development, Public Authority of Urban Planning,
Strategic Urban Development Plan for the Greater Cairo Region, Cairo governorate,
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11- Ministry of Housing, Utilities & Urban Development, Public Authority of Urban Planning,
Strategic Urban Development Plan for the Alexandria Governorate, Alexandria, 2008.
12- Alexandria, Alexandria City Development Strategy 2004-2008, Alexandria, 2008.
13- Larnaca Urban Sustainable Development Strategy, Larnaca, 2014.
14- Saida Development Strategy, Saida, 2014.
15- Izmir Municipality Development Strategy, Izmir, 2014.
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