Beheira Governorate
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Beheira (Template:Langx Template:Transliteration, Template:IPA, "the governorate of the Lake") is a coastal governorate in northern Egypt. Located in the northern part of the country in the Nile Delta, its capital is Damanhur.
Overview
Beheira Governorate enjoys an important strategical place, west of the Rosetta branch of the Nile. It comprises four important highways, namely the Cairo-Alexandria desert road, the Cairo agricultural road, the international road, and the circular road. Beheira Governorate is also home to a number of the most important Coptic monasteries in Wadi El Natrun (Scetes).<ref name="sis.gov.eg">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="britannica">Template:Cite web</ref>
Beheira consists of 13 marakez and 14 cities, and contains important industries such as cotton, chemicals, carpets, electricity, and fishing.
The governorate has a noteworthy number of archaeological sites, including at Abu El Matamir, Abu Hummus, Damanhour, Rosetta (Rashid), and Kafr El Dawwar.<ref name="Wilson 2009"> Template:Cite book</ref> Coins, lamps, animal bones, and pottery from Roman and later Eastern Roman (Byzantine) eras are some of the archaeological finds discovered at Kom El Giza, and Kom El Hamam in Beheira.<ref name="SCHEDIA PROJECT">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2017, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi appointed the first female governor in the country's history, Nadia Ahmed Abdou, for Beheira Governorate.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The rate of poverty in the governate is more than 60%, however, some social safety networks have been provided recently in the form of financial assistance, and job opportunities. The funding has been coordinated by Egypt's Ministry of Finance and with assistance from international organisations.<ref name="Takaful and Karama">Template:Cite news</ref>
Municipal divisions
The governorate is divided into the following municipal divisions for administrative purposes, with a total estimated population as of January 2024 of 6,992,742. In some instances there is a markaz and a kism with the same name.<ref name="CAPMAS2023" />
Population
According to population estimates, in 2024 the majority of residents in the governorate lived in rural areas, with an urbanization rate of only 19.5%. Out of an estimated 6,992,742 people residing in the governorate, 5,629,157 people lived in rural areas as opposed to only 1,363,585 in urban areas.<ref name="pop">Template:Cite web</ref>
Cities and towns
- Abu Hummus
- Abu El Matamir
- Damanhur
- Edku
- El Delengat
- El Mahmoudiyah
- El Rahmaniya
- Itay El Barud
- Hosh Essa
- Kafr El Dawwar
- Kom Hamada
- Rosetta
- Shubrakhit
- Wadi El Natrun
- El Nubaria
Notable people
- Mahmud Shaltut, former Grand Imam of Al-Azhar
- Pope Benjamin I of Alexandria, former Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark
- Mohammed al-Ghazali, Islamic Scholar
- Hassan Shehata, football manager
- Karim Hafez, footballer
Industrial zones
According to the Governing Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI), the following industrial zones are located in Beheira:<ref name="IndustrialZones">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="sis.gov.eg" />
| Zone name |
|---|
| New El Nubaria Industrial Zone |
Projects and programs
In 1981, the Basic Village Service Program (BVS), under the auspices of USAID, had several water, road, and other projects, going on in several markazes in Beheira Governorate.<ref name="SrvcProgram">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2018 the governorate council discussed a campaign of mosquito control and animal control to avert the spread of preventable diseases.<ref name="2018 council mtg">Template:Cite news</ref>