Friday March 29th, 2024
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Within One Year All Shantytowns Will Be No More

Egypt is rolling out a national plan to deal with the myriad of informal, underdeveloped settlements across the country...

Staff Writer

We are all aware of the fact that underdeveloped housing complexes - which are definitely informal settlements - are all around Egypt but today we actually some heartwarming news regarding these shantytowns.

Egypt's Housing Minister, Moustafa Madbouly said his country will be "shack-free" in one year, announcing a national plan for developing Egypt's sprawling informal settlements.  Also, while Mr. Madbouly was in a meeting with Egypt's Urban Development and Informal Settlements Minister Laila Eskandar, they stated that this plan will also help develop 77 life-endangering “shantytowns”.

A majority of this renovation will take place in Cairo and Giza, where most of these shantytowns are located. You might be thinking, “So they’re just going to push these people out of their homes?” but no that’s not the case. Laila Eskadnar has assured the people that there will be no forced eviction of residents and that the state will provide housing.

Cairo's Governor Galal El-Saeed said in the meeting that the government and the Developing Informal Settlements will replace 11,000 housing units in Cairo, and that land has been allocated for housing replacements.

This project will truly help the residents of the current shanty towns as many of them live on the edge of the hills which are highly prone to landslides so moving them out of that danger zone will give them a better sense of safety. Considering Egypt's track record though, let’s just all hope this goes through as planned!