Parliament initially ratifies Social Housing Law

CAIRO – 24 April 2018: Egypt’s Parliament initially ratified the Social Housing Law issued by the government during a Monday session. The draft law, however, still needs another final vote as a necessary constitutional procedure.

According to the new law, a Social Housing Fund will be established affiliated with the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities. The fund will be considered a public service authority with several official offices in all of the country’s governorates.

The fund, according to the new law, will be responsible for providing low-income housing units in the areas that will be selected by the government. The government is expected to issue another detailed law following the final approval explaining the needed criteria and conditions for applying to have these housing units. The law will ban each family from having more than just one unit.

On Sunday, April 22, Parliament approved the government-drafted law to amend some provisions in Agriculture Law No. 53 of 1966.

During the plenary session attended by the ministers of water resources and irrigation and agriculture, a plan to fairly distribute available water amongst agricultural crops was reviewed.

Article 1 of the Agriculture Law refers that the minister of agriculture shall determine the areas to cultivate certain crops and shall ban other crops in certain areas. Hence, the draft law to amend Article 1 of the Agriculture Law stipulates that the minister of agriculture in coordination with the minister of irrigation shall issue a ministerial decree to ban the cultivation of some crops in certain areas that have low amounts of water, in order to rationalize water usage.

In the same context, the government agreed to amend Article 101 of the law, which stipulates those who violate the ministerial decrees issued to implement Articles 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Agriculture Law shall be punished with a fine not less than LE 20,000 ($1,128.50), and not more than LE 50,000.