The Egyptian government is proceeding with its plans towards eliminating slums, which are considered the main problem hindering societal development in the country. These efforts come despite the difficulties striking the Egyptian economy due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi attended on Thursday the inauguration of Bashayer El-Kheir 3 housing project in Alexandria.
“We must work to provide suitable housing with good planning for a large mass of citizens, to avoid violations in construction,” he said.
Upon his election nearly 6 years ago, Sisi vowed to eliminate illegal constructions.
According to Khaled Seddik, Executive Director of the Slum Development Fund in Egypt, the slum development project is divided into three sections: the first targets unsafe areas, the second, the unplanned areas, and finally the illegal markets.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the development of all the insecure areas would be completed by the end of the year.
According to a study published by the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, in June 2016, slums represents 38.6 percent of the urban construction mass in Egyptian cities.
The Greater Cairo region, which includes the governorates of Cairo, Giza, and Qalyubia, contains most of these slums, and is home to approximately 850,000 people.
The project inaugurated by Sisi on Thursday consists of 11,000 housing units, 3 service facilities, including an educational facility, 6 mosques, including two of 800 square meters and 4 small mosques, and a hospital for the treatment of residents, in addition to a church, a youth center, a post office, and a center for recreational activities.
