CAIRO — Egyptian Cabinet ministers and World Bank officials have signed off on a $200 million project aimed at creating 250,000 jobs after more than a year of slow economic growth.

The World Bank says the investments in public works, such as cleaning canals and improving schools and rural roads, will target communities most in need of work in Menoufia, Sharkia, Assiut, and Sohag provinces.

Egypt has been in an economic downturn since the popular uprising that brought down longtime President Hosni Mubarak last year.

Egypt and the World Bank agreed on the loan in late June and signed it in Cairo on Tuesday. It's the second part of a $300 million deal that began in 2011.

The World Bank says the sanitation infrastructure project will focus on constructing waste-water treatment plants.