Three governorates will be slum-free by end of 2017

CAIRO – 9 August 2017: Around 95 percent of slum areas in three governorates have been developed, Deputy Minister of Housing for Urban Development Ahmed Adel Darwish said Tuesday.

Speaking to Egypt Today, Darwish said that three governorates, Port Said, Red Sea and Suez, will have no unsafe slum areas by the end of 2017.

Developed slum areas so far include three in Suez, 10 in Port Said and 11 in the Red Sea governorate.

Several projects have been approved by the government over the past period within its strategy to resolve the widespread slum crises in Egypt’s governorates and cities.
In April, Governor of Cairo Atef Abdel Hamid announced that the government has about thirteen projects to eliminate slums, at an estimated cost of LE 12 billion ($670 million), which will include 62,000 housing units.

Approximately 850,000 citizens are residing in slum areas across the country.
Since 2014, the Ministry of Housing has addressed this challenge by constructing 20,000 homes in safe areas, worth LE 3 billion, and 74,000 more units are being implemented, worth LE 14.5 billion.