Egypt spends LE40B on moving slum residents to alternative-housing units

CAIRO – 4 October 2023: In 2016, the first alternative-housing project was inaugurated in Moqatam neighborhood and called "Asmarat." Since then, over LE40 billion have been spent on similar projects in both the capital and other governorates.

Spokesperson of the Civil Development Fund Ehab Hanafy stated in a phone-in that slums composed one percent of constructions in Egypt. They amounted to 357 areas, whose residents were moved to 246,000 residential units.

In a related context, the Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) released an infograph in June highlighting that LE400 billion had been spent on building new cities in Greater Cairo with the aim of reducing population density which had recorded 11,000 per square kilometer.

The center compared the figure to those of Paris and New Mexico, where they are 5,000 per square kilometer and 2,800 per square kilometer, respectively.

Greater Cairo comprises three governorates that are Cairo, Giza, and Qalyoubiyah. All span over 3,000 square kilometers and have a total population of 25 million.

The larger of which is Cairo with 9.9 million citizens and a population growth rate of 12 percent. It is home to 796,000 university students, 12,000 factories, 18,000 hotel rooms, and 25 culture centers. It consists of 148,000 social housing units.

Giza comes next with 9.6 million citizens, and a population growth rate of 16.8 percent. It is home to 359,000 university students, 6,900 factories, 9,200 hotel rooms, and 18 cultural centers. It consists of 181,000 social housing units.

Qalyoubiyah comes last with 5.8 million citizens, and a population growth rate of 14.5 percent. It is home to 214,000 university students, 7,000 factories, six hotel rooms, and 16 cultural centers. It consists of 57,000 social housing units.