Egypt's PM strips municipal authorities of right to issue construction licenses, gives it to universities

CAIRO – 4 November 2020: Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli made public universities the sole issuer of construction licenses stripping local municipalities of that right saying that the public university at each governorate will serve as the consulting bureau of such governorate.

The prime minister declared the decision in a meeting displaying proposed specifications, terms, and conditions pertinent to constructions and urban planning at Cairo, Giza, and Alexandria.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Local Development Mahmoud Shaarawy, Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Areas Assem al-Gazar, Chairman of Urban Planning Authority Alaa Abdel Fatah, a number of academics, and via video-conference, the governors of Egypt, Giza, and Alexandria.

Madbouli stressed the collaboration between universities and governorates' municipal authorities in order to come up with adequate codes.

On September 24, the prime minister announced in a press conference on Thursday that the total number of those who submitted requests of reconciliation for building violations reached 1.4 million so far.

He added the deadline for submission of requests for was extended to October 30, noting that the state will not demolish a building inhabited by the citizens. 

Madbouli noted that the government needs to legalize the illegal buildings, in light of providing more facilitations to the citizens, clarifying that every building would have an identification number.

He affirmed that the international ratings of Egypt’s economic outlooks affirmed the ability of economic growth in the future.

As for the encroachment of the illegal buildings, Madbouli said that the government will issue its own requirements for building in the agricultural areas before October 24, 2020.

He also said that that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has directed the government to settle down the problem of overdue payments for exporters before the end of this year.

On September 12, 2020, Madbouli said in a meeting with a number of Egyptian editors-in-chief and reporters in Kafr Saad, Qalyoubia governorate that Egypt has lost more than 400,000 feddans (one feddan equals about 1.038 acres) over 40 years, including 90,000 feddans since 2011 due to encroachment activities on the agriculture lands.