A former member of Hosni Mubarak's political party has been appointed as Egypt's new prime minister, a day after the cabinet announced its shock resignation, vowing to crack down on the militant violence that has blighted Egypt since the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
Ibrahim Mahlab spoke after his appointment by Adly Mansour – the army-appointed president who has been in office since Morsi's removal in July – and said he hoped to form his government within three or four days.
"We will work together to restore security and safety to Egypt and crush terrorism in all corners of the country," he said. "Security and stability in the entire country and crushing terrorism will pave the way for investment."
Mahlab, who was housing minister in the previous administration, will head Egypt's sixth government since the 2011 uprising that toppled the autocratic Mubarak, beginning yet another chapter in the chaotic post-Mubarak era.
Mahlab once belonged to Mubarak's National Democratic party, and is the former CEO of Arab Contractors, one of the region's largest construction firms.
He is expected to lead an interim government at least until the election of a new president – likely to be army chief Abdel Fatah al-Sisi – and perhaps even until the installation of a new parliament.
Egypt's media and political class are largely supportive of Mahlab, who is seen as a man of action compared with his predecessor, 77-year-old Hazem al-Beblawy.
Both men are white-haired, but on Tuesday pro-regime newspaper al-Watan printed a caricature of a brown-haired Mahlab standing next to a white-haired Beblawy to emphasise the former's comparative youthfulness.
"He gets things done," Samir Radwan, Egypt's former finance minister, told the Guardian on Monday. "He is a doer, a man of action. I've never seen him in an office. I've only ever seen him on a building site."
Opponents of the government criticised Mahlab's appointment because of his connection to the Mubarak era, and to business elites. Under his watch as housing minister last week, 1,200 families were forcibly evicted from their Cairo homes, and their houses demolished, Amnesty International reported.
Beblawy was blamed for failing to dealing with a rise in the number of workers' strikes, electricity shortages and a spiralling economy – problems that have blighted Egypt for years and which the new government is unlikely to solve. It is unclear how much say he or his ministers had in their departure from government, and how many of them will be reappointed. At least two ministers had no prior knowledge of their 'resignation'.