1,770 families relocated from slums to social housing

CAIRO - 19 August 2019: Cairo Governorate Municipal Authority relocated 788 families from Tereat Al Tawarea slum area to Ahalina neighborhood, Cairo Governor Khaled Abdel Aal announced on Monday.

The governor stated that the authority finished the demolition of 249 unlicensed buildings in Eshah Abou El Seoud moving the residents, who are members of 497 families, to Asmarat 3 neighborhood.

Until present, 485 families have been evacuated from 110 buildings in Sharabeya’s Hekr al-Sakakiny slums and given free fully-furnished apartments in Mahrousa 1 neighborhood. The same measure was taken with 510 families who moved from Tal Al Akareb slum to Rawdet Al Sayeda. However, they had to reside in 6 of October City temporarily until construction works were over.

For illegal business places, 192 tanneries and 50 out of 66 factories were razed in the tanneries area as they are moving to Robeiky Textile Complex. Twenty-two tanneries will be abolished in the upcoming period.

The total number of slums in Egypt was 351 areas, 80 percent of which were demolished in the past 4 years and residents were given fully furnished flats in social housing projects. The remaining 20 percent will be developed by the end of 2019.

The state also builds residential units across the country for middle class citizens whose housing needs are mostly overlooked by private developers who seek high margins of profit by catering for the luxury market. That is being achieved through certain initiatives such as Sakan Misr and Dar Misr.

In June, Cairo Governorate Municipal Authority demolished buildings in Hekr Al Sakakiny slum area after it had relocated 60 families to Mahrousa 1 residences.

The authority is moving 1,500 families from new and old Hekr Al Sakakiny slum areas to Mahrousa 1 neighborhood, and is demolishing unlicensed houses and huts in Tereat Al Tawarei.

Hekr Al Sakakiny is located in Sharabeya neighborhood, northern Cairo. The number of residents evacuated until May from the old and new areas is 750 and 800, respectively. They are moving to units in the social housing project Mahrousa 1 located in Salam 2 neighborhood. The new apartments are furnished and equipped with all essential home appliances. The authority demolishes the unlicensed buildings in Hekr Al Sakakiny after the residents move out.

As for Tereat Al Tawarei area located eastern Cairo, the authority removed 400 huts and 400 buildings in May. The residents of Tereat Al Tawarei were granted fully furnished apartments in nearby Ahalina 1 social housing project.

Mahrousa 1

The project consists of 4,900 residential units as well as shops, and administrative units. It is constructed over 60 feddans. The breakdown is 34.7 feddans for buildings, 14.2 feddans for facilities, 8.4 feddans for roads, and 2.7 feddans for greenery.

Ahalina 1

The project is executed by the Higher Command of the Central Military Region, Cairo governorate, the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), and Ain Shams University. The value of the project is LE 365 million. Forty-six percent of the cost is covered by donations, while the rest is funded by NBE.

The project includes schools having a total of 120 classrooms, a medical center, and a mosque. Basements will be used as fashion workshops to create jobs for women.

Both neighborhoods were inaugurated by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi in December 2018. The state aims at eliminating all slums across the country by the end of 2019 as it cleared 80 percent of 351 areas 2018. In parallel, dwellers were granted free fully furnished units in social housing projects. The president stated that the cost of furnishing apartments in such new neighborhoods is LE 6 billion.

In May 2016, President Sisi promised to move all those living in slums to new flats over 3 years as part of an ambitious project expected to cost about LE 14 billion ($790 million).

In the same context, the Tahya Misr (Long Live Egypt) Fund, launched by Sisi in 2014, has been working on a three-phase strategy to eliminate Egypt’s shantytowns and re-house slum residents, including those living in Doueyka, Establ Antar and Ezbet Khair Allah.

The project includes 15,000 housing units to re-house 60,000 slum residents. The first two phases of Tahya Misr are comprised of 12,000 flats. The third phase opened in 2017 and is comprised of 20,000 flats.