Egypt is set to present development projects in the Sinai Peninsula to Arab development banks and institutions, said Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr during a meeting of Arab development institutions in Kuwait on 20 December.

Nasr said the projects will be in the housing, road, agriculture and education sectors.

It is understood Cairo is aiming to attract $1.5bn-worth of investments to the Sinai area.

In February this year, Egypt’s Central Agency for Construction, which works under the country’s Housing Ministry, announced plans to pump $203m into infrastructure and housing projects in the Sinai Peninsula.

In August this year, Egypt’s president Abdul Fatah al-Sisi issued a decree aimed at accelerating what the government has called the full development of Sinai. Al-Sisi amended 10 legal articles in a bid to ensure national security is not compromised as the area is developed. Amendments include a requirement that land owners in Sinai must carry Egyptian citizenship with Egyptian parents. Despite this, the laws allow dual-nationals to own real estate, although land ownership is still prohibited.

Sinai has been neglected by Cairo over the past three decades, since its reclamation from Israel in 1982. Egypt’s Nile Delta-centric policies of development and infrastructure continue to hinder Cairo’s efforts to alleviate any local disenfranchisement that often leads to extremism in the area. Since the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, Cairo has witnessed a surge in militant activity in the area.