Egypt to be declared slum-free in 2 months: official

CAIRO – 18 May 2021: Egypt will be declared slum-free within the next two months, according to an official.

Head of Informal Settlements Development Fund Engineer Khaled Seddik confirmed that all slum areas in Cairo is being removed, expecting that within two months, Egypt will be free of unsafe areas nationwide.

He said that the total cost allocated for eliminating unsafe areas is L.E. 39 billion, of which 32 billion have been spent so far, with Cairo’s share reached 16 billion.

Last month, a total of 50 families residing in Cairo slum area of Batn al-Baqara were transferred to new housing units in the new Asmarat city, where they receive fully-furnished units supported with electronic devices. Cairo governorate also provided means of transportation for residents to transfer their belongings.

As part of the plan, the govenorate removed 43 buildings out of 730 ones to develop this area in Old Cairo.

The residents of this area have suffered for a long time from inadequate housing and lack of services, as 2,000 families are scheduled to move from Batn al-Baqara to Asmarat to improve their livelihood.

Asmarat is a social housing project offering alternative housing to slum dwellers, granting them fully-furnished residential units.

This comes as part of the government’s plan to get rid of informal areas, and re-exploit these places to serve the country.

Egypt has finalized the development of 312 unsafe areas, out of a total of 357, at a cost of L.E. 39 billion. It is scheduled to complete the development of all insecure areas nationwide by mid-2021, and after that, the development phase of the unplanned and informal markets will begin, where a 10-year plan has been set.

In May 2016, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi promised to move all those living in slums to new flats over 3 years as part of an ambitious project expected to cost -then- about LE 14 billion ($790 million); however, the budget was upgraded until reaching LE 38 Billion.