20% of money of restored land devoted to development: Sisi

CAIRO – 7 June 2017: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has revealed that 15 to 20 percent of the money gathered from reclaimed state lands will be devoted to developmental projects.

During a conference held on Wednesday to celebrate the government’s efforts in eliminating land encroachments, Sisi stated that the state has become responsible to set up new facilities and infrastructure in 65 million meters of restored state lands.

The state has massive capacities to structure the restored lands, Sisi said, stating that the process will cost about LE 65 billion ($3.58 billion.) He stressed the necessity to utilize these big spaces, or else, the government’s efforts would be wasted.

State authorities reclaimed 919.458 feddans of squatted lands between May 16 and 31, 2017, according to Chairman of the Administrative Control Authority (ACA), Mohamed Erfan.

During his speech, the president stated that Prime Minister Sherif Ismail has put a lot of efforts to restore state lands. However, he pointed out that the government’s efforts have not yielded a big accomplishment, and were not up to the challenge.

The violated agricultural land in Egypt reached 930,000 acres during the past period, Prime Minster Sherif Ismail explained during the ceremony, adding that the government has succeeded to eliminate a huge part of this space.

Admitting that the process of eliminating squatted lands has witnessed a number of violations, Sisi explained that it was due to excitement or conflict of authorities.

Sisi further pointed out that the campaign was not limited to governors, policemen and army forces, but also included Egyptian youth.

He called for the youth to join the government and claim responsibility, after having seen the situation on the ground. He further asked them to contribute in facing corruption, which, he said is a joint task for the government and the citizens.

The president also referred to price hikes, pointing out that the increase in available products will highly contribute in reducing prices. He emphasized that raising the production and control mechanisms, will lead to controlling the prices.