In an on-air call last month with Amr Adeeb on the Al Qahera Al Youm channel, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared his plan to complete the building of an integrated urban community in the Sinai Peninsula within the next year and a half.

“I have allocated 10 billion Egyptian pounds [$1.1 billion] to develop Sinai. There is no room for trifling, neither with ourselves nor with the Egyptian people. Eighteen months from now, you and the Egyptian people will see a fully developed area in Sinai, starting with a creation of a 1,500-kilometer [930-mile] network of roads and bridges, the development of main axes and the building of Bedouin compounds, each comprising 150 houses and 500 agricultural acres. We aim to create an integrated urban community for our children, whether in the north or the south,” Sisi told Adeeb March 7.

He added, “You do not have enough information on what is happening in Sinai. We are making concerted efforts and I am not providing empty rhetoric — and people are well aware of that. Heed my words, Egyptians, what I am telling you is the truth. In a year and a half [the project] will be implemented without one day of delay. I am capable of doing so, God willing.”

Sisi’s announcement of the series of mega projects, which the country is currently implementing in Sinai, came following the scathing comments against the state’s institutions for what some have called obvious “neglect” vis-a-vis the Sinai issue, compounding the lack of actual development in the area in recent decades. This was particularly true under the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, despite officials’ countless statements about development plans, demolishing of tunnels with Gaza, elimination of corruption and ways to take advantage of the treasures and wealth of Sinai.