In 2 weeks: squatters cleared from thousands of state-owned lands in Egypt

CAIRO – 20 March 2022: The Ministry of Local Development announced Sunday clearing squatters from 1.1 million square meters of state-owned non-agricultural lands, and 4,653 feddans (one feddan equals 4,500 square meters) of agricultural land since March 6.  

Most of the encroachments were in the form of unlicensed buildings so as 6,511 constructions were demolished from non-agricultural lands, while 732 others were removed from agricultural lands.

The committee in charge of eliminating encroachments on state-owned lands stated in September that 75 percent of those have been removed over 18 phases since May 2017 when the campaign was launched by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

That means 2.5 million feddans (one feddan equals 4,500 square meters) of agricultural lands, and 188 million square meters of non-agricultural lands have been cleared. 

The committee also clarified that 37,000 squatters had reconciled, while the requests of 44,000 others were still being examined.