The Governorate Takes the Second Phase of Hurghada's Craftsmen City Back From the Endowments Authority
Red Sea Governor Walid Al-Barqi has withdrawn the land of the second phase of Hurghada's Craftsmen City from the Endowments Authority, after years of disagreement over workshop prices and how units are allocated. The governorate is now studying carrying out the work itself. No completion date has been given.
15 October 2026
Red Sea Governor Walid Al-Barqi has withdrawn the land of the second phase of Hurghada's Craftsmen City from the Endowments Authority, and the governorate has begun studying how to carry out the remaining work itself, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported on Thursday.
The decision follows disagreements that lasted years between the Endowments Authority and the governorate over the prices of the craft and industrial workshops and the mechanisms for distributing them to those entitled to them, and over phases of the project that were not completed within their legal deadlines.
The governor announced it at a meeting with workshop owners, held to go through the project's current position and to hear their complaints about the delay to the second phase. He told them the governorate is examining the appropriate executive alternatives for taking over the works, in line with the legal and administrative procedures, the report said.
What this changes for workshop owners
We reported on Wednesday that the governorate would first carry out a census of the workshops, their owners and those eligible for units, so that allocation rests on an accurate database. That census stands, and the governor repeated the instruction at this meeting. The new element is that the second-phase land is no longer held by the Endowments Authority.
Craftsmen City is intended to bring hundreds of craft and industrial workshops together in one dedicated area outside Hurghada's residential blocks, which is the governorate's stated reason for the move: to organise the trade and reduce its effects on the neighbourhoods where the workshops now sit.
Workshop owners at the meeting welcomed the decision and said they were looking for the remaining procedures, and the list of who qualifies, to be finished quickly so their activities can move.
No date has been given for completing the second phase or for the move itself, and the mechanism by which the governorate would carry out the work is still described as under study.