Egypt's PM: State gave attention to housing file over past 7 years

CAIRO - 14 August 2020: Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly on Saturday asserted that the state gave a due attention to the file of housing over the past seven years in order to improve the living standards of Egyptians nationwide.

In remarks during the inauguration of some housing projects in Badr City, Madbouly said the state was very interested in several files, including utilities, water, drainage, electricity, natural gas, roads, education and health.

The state has been very courageous to deal with these files in this period, added the premier.

He noted that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is following up the projects. This helped the government to make achievements in a span of seven years, he added.

Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said the situation in Egypt over the past decades did not enable the state to handle these files because of wars and instability.

But still overpopulation is a big challenge looming ahead in Egypt over a span of 100 years, he went on to say.

He confirmed that the problem of overpopulation should be seriously dealt with nationwide.

The housing issue was very important for the state over long decades, he said, adding that the state has adopted a strategy for handling the overpopulation problem, based on building new cities and overhauling old houses.

Over the past seven years, the state was successful in doubling the establishment of housing units in Egypt, compared to the past 40 years, according to him.

Madbouly further mentioned that the state builds 225,000 homes in one year and aims to increase the construction work in the period to come.

Since President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has assumed office, he aims at confronting the problem of slum areas and not leaving residents of the slums suffer in life, said Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly.

Dweiqa slum

Madbouly referred to the Dweiqa slum disaster, in which whole families were buried under the rubble.

The Egyptian state has been very interested in solving the problem, given the fact that the right to have a decent home is an important human right, the premier went on to say.

The word of human rights has to be highlighted as it means the need of providing a quality living standard for citizens, he said.

The government has started work in 357 unsafe areas in the country to upgrade them at a total cost of 63 billion Egyptian pounds, Madbouly further said.

The state allocated up to LE425 billion to change the face of Egypt in these shanties, extending across the country and Cairo in particular, according to him.

The state aims at fully developing the shanty towns to provide citizens with all services and decent houses, he noted.

Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said 100% of the construction work was completed, adding 90% of houses were delivered to residents.

The remaining 10% of housing units were already established and work is now going on to finalize all services to hand them over to the citizens before the end of the current year, he further noted.

Madbouly pointed out to pictures of the areas before and after the development work, saying the state was capable of changing them to the best.

As far Cairo governorate, the state has acted to set it as an example to follow in all governorates, he noted.

Asmarat area

The premier said Asmarat area, el Mahrousa area and Ahalina area have all provided alternative housing units for residents of several unsafe areas nationwide.

Shifting to the Maspero Triangle project, Madbouly reviewed the renovation efforts and the areas, which will be evacuated in the coming month or two months.

Before the end of the current year, all unsafe areas will disappear nationwide, he asserted.

Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said the state has been acting to develop and upgrade unsafe and unplanned areas, given the fact that 135 areas were chosen, where more than seven million people live.

As many as 56 areas were already developed serving 450,000 families and work is underway on the rest in line with the action plan in this regard, Madbouly further said.

El Zawya El Hamra

Madbouly presented the overhauling work in some areas including El Zawya El Hamra area in Cairo and areas in the governorates of New Valley, Minya and Red Sea.

Shifting to Old Cairo restoration project, he asserted the state aims at restoring the splendor of the area by preserving and restoring archaeological buildings with historical value.

The state is paying an utmost attention to upgrading governorates and major cities and aiming to build 500,000 new housing units, according to him.

In Suez, 20,000 new housing units were set up to provide residents of unsafe areas with decent homes, he further noted.

Madbouly concluded that the government will focus on completing the half million housing units project in capitals of governorates in the phase to come, in addition to the development of slums and historical Cairo with a total cost of nearly 600 billion Egyptian pounds.