Egypt Watch

Cairo Governorate preparing to demolish 3,500 inhabited apartments

The Nasr City neighbourhood has begun registering the names of the Sixth District residents who want alternative housing due to being evicted from their homes, which will be removed under the pretext of developing the area.

The neighbourhood administration notified the residents, who currently inhabit 3,500 apartments, of four alternatives: an apartment in the same area after the completion of the development project; an apartment rented from the governorate during the project period; financial compensation determined by the governorate; or an apartment in one of the new cities such as Al-Mahrousa, Al-Salam, and Al-Nahda.

The state-owned newspaper Akhbar Al-Youm quoted sources as saying that Cairo Governorate will demolish the Sixth District area in Nasr City, claiming that there are several buildings that are in ruins. The sources added that authorities plan to build skyscrapers like what was built in the Maspero Triangle instead of the dilapidated buildings.

The source explained that the owners whose properties will be removed will be compensated in cash or by renting apartments for them until the completion of the development project, and then they will be returned to the area.

State facilities in this area are currently being removed, foremost of which is the one-day surgery hospital affiliated to the Ministry of Health and Population, and the Nasr City Youth Centre affiliated with the Ministry of Youth and Sports. State facilities in this area, such as the One Day Surgeries Hospital and Nasr City Youth Centre, are currently being removed.

Another source revealed that the governorate will start removing 125 properties known as the Taawoniat Buildings. These properties are inhabited and located on the main Nasr Road in front of the Medical Centre of the Arab Contractors Club. The source said that the governorate aims to build residential towers, and to include the project within the presidential initiative to provide 100,000 furnished housing units on the rental system and make them available to newly married couples.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly met with the Minister of Housing, Assem Al-Jazzar, and the Executive Director of the Social Housing Fund, Mai Abdel-Hamid, last Sunday, to follow up on the implementation of the project. Financial compensation will be paid to the owners of these properties, or they will be transferred to alternative units in the Asmarat area in the Mokattam neighbourhood. The governorate is likely to set the initial compensation value for the 90-square-metre unit at EGP 135,000, even though its market price is not less than EGP 350,000. On December 28, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi directed the government to build 100,000 housing units to rent to newly married couples.