Egypt on Monday announced 14 projects worth $8 billion, earmarked to develop its southern areas and the Suez Canal region in a move to generate jobs and attract investors into the struggling economy.

Egypt, Africa’s former second-largest economy, is struggling to recover from overbearing debts coupled with skyrocketing unemployment and inflation put at over 13 percent, following the civil uprising and economic standstill that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak.

Currently, the Mohammed Morsi led-nation is seeking a $4.8 billion loan from IMF, amongst many others, to fund mega infrastructure projects vital to substantial job creation, and to resuscitate its economy.

Two of the announced projects include the construction of a major Mediterranean port and a new tunnel under the Suez Canal to attract migration to the region, away from Egypt’s crowded Nile Valley and Delta region.

According to Reuters, at a conference in Cairo organized by Egyptian investment bank Beltone, the Investment Minister Osama Saleh said: “The government vision is to achieve integrated development in the Suez Canal Corridor, starting at East Port Said and to open the horizon for urban development outside the Valley and Delta.”

Analysts say the Egyptian government has not maixmized the economic potential of the Suez Canal, which is a major international trade route, and whose transit fees are a vital source of revenue for the government, until now.

The Canal project is expected to generate 500,000 jobs and house more than 1.5 million people over the next 30 years, according to Saleh.

Deputy Finance Minister Hany Kadry Dimian has also said that 7 of the 14 projects which cover solid waste management, drinking water, health, telecommunications and roads, are ready for investment while the remaining half would be inaugurated by 2014.