According to a report by the cabinet media centre out on Monday, the new republic will be free of slums by the end of 2021. Unplanned areas will be eliminated by 2030, as part of government efforts to offer Egyptians safe and decent accommodation.
Unplanned, hazardous housing has been sprawling for decades in Egypt, where people live in dangerous conditions and lack infrastructure.
Cairo suffered the most of such unplanned areas, as it is the capital where jobs and other services are centralised.
The government has so far spent LE425 billion on slum clearance as part of Egypt’s 2030 Vision.
The cabinet report showed that 54 districts in Cairo and 31 in Giza were unsafe, followed by Alexandria and Port Said with 10 and 7 districts respectively, plus slum areas in Red Sea Governorate and Ismailiyya, and17 shantytowns in Beni Suef and 16 dangerous areas in Dakahlia and Qalyubia.
The report showed that up to 1.2 million people benefited from the development of unsafe areas.
Some 357 hazardous areas have been made less so at a cost of LE63 billion.
Around LE318 billion was spent on upgrading shanty towns while 1,105 unplanned markets have been improved for LE44 billion.
Some 135 unplanned areas with total population of 7 million are being developed, while work on 56 unplanned areas has been completed.
In April this year, 50 families residing in the Cairo slum area of Batn al-Baqar were moved to new housing in the new Asmarat City. Another 2,000 families are scheduled to move to Asmarat.
As part of the plan, the governorate removed 43 buildings out of 730 to develop this area in Old Cairo.
In Bashayer el-Khair, Alexandria, 15,000 housing units were built at a cost of LE7 billion for the benefit of 75,000 people.
Alexandria is home to the second largest alternative housing project for slum dwellers, the report said, and LE11 billion has been allocated by the Slum Development Fund.
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