Rawdat al-Sayeda: Transforming slums into better communities

CAIRO – 26 May 2019: Cairo's Al-Sayeda Zeinab used to host one of the most unsafe areas in the country, known as Tal Al-Aqareb, before it was demolished and replaced by new housing units covering about 7.5 feddans and renamed as Rawdat al-Sayeda.

Egypt Today tracks the complete makeover of the area that had been crudely-built shacks before it was re-constructed in 2018. The old slum area was originally built above a dusty mound and was considered life-threatening to the residents.


Tal Al-Aqareb slum area before renovation works - File


In 2016, the residents of Tal Al-Aqareb were evacuated after several unsafe buildings had been demolished and were transferred temporarily to a new housing area until the newly Rawdat al-Sayeda project was completed and submitted last November.

This came in line with the state’s initiative to develop unsafe areas, aiming to replace all slums with 80,000 residential buildings by the end of 2019.

The styles of the new residential buildings in Rawdat al-Sayeda were associated with Islamic architecture witnessed in brown Islamic style window screens.


Rawdat al-Sayeda housing units - File

Khalil Shaath, head of Cairo governorate's informal-area-upgrading unit, said that in coordination with the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development, 815 housing units, which would house 3,500 people, have been built at Tal Al-Aqareb, along with 324 shops.

Side windows were added to the project’s units in order to allow residents to hang their laundry.

In May 2016, President Abdel Fatah al-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.

Unsafe areas across Egypt to be developed by end of 2019

CAIRO - 17 December 2018: The unsafe informal areas across Egypt will be developed by the end of 2019, Wael Ezzat, head of Central Administration for Development Projects in the Council of Ministers' Slum Development Fund, announced on Monday.