The government is addressing corruption in land allocation. But is it going far enough, Niveen Wahish asks The past few months saw various infringements and misallocations of government lands make headlines. The violations include everything from multi-storey apartment houses in Nasr City, a district north of central Cairo, to agricultural lands on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road wrongly used to build housing resorts. Misallocations also included a tourist island in Upper Egypt, a huge housing development project in Eastern Cairo -- namely Madinaty -- and a 230- feddan (hectare) plot of land in New Cairo, east of central Cairo. But the problem is not only the infractions in themselves but the fact that government ministers and wealthy business owners are associated with the scandals. Ahmed El-Naggar, economic researcher at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al-Ahram Weekly that what is happening is the result of conflict of interests and favouritism to businessmen who are close to political power. The cases are a reminder of the need to create a mechanism by which businessmen who are part of the government can relinquish the management of their companies. "The government cannot claim that it was not aware of all these infractions," El-Naggar said, adding that the media has reported these violations time and time again. To him, the supervisory agencies are either not doing their work or doing it and nobody is abiding by their findings. He lamented the lack of independence of supervisory authorities, arguing that they are currently affiliated to the executive authority. "The fact that the country's wealth of land is being tampered with by the very people who should watch over it is dangerous." "The fact that something is finally being done about these issues is testimony to the power of the people," he added. "It shows that persistence may force the government to put an end to a particular infraction," though he lamented that corruption lingers on. El-Naggar wonders why individuals are only allowed to own land through auctions at a price of around LE900 per square metre in new places like 6 October governorate while a developer like the Talaat Mustafa Group gets the land, as in the case of Madinaty, at less than LE10 per square metre without having to bid on it. He does not believe that urbanising an area so close to Greater Cairo was worth giving the land at such a low price and losing such huge revenue. Losses to the government from the sale of this land are estimated at LE147 billion. Others do not agree. Ahmed Gamal, a resident of New Cairo, believes such projects have brought life and infrastructure to an area that was once endless desert. However, Gamal too wondered why such favourable terms were not granted to all customers. El-Naggar pointed to more examples of misallocations, such as the contract with Al-Walid Bin Talal in Toshka, in Southern Egypt. "The land has been developed at a cost of LE11,000 per feddan and all he paid for 100,000 feddans is LE5 million." Moreover the contract does not stipulate a time span during which Bin Talal is obliged to develop the land. In addition, he is receiving water at a favourable price. El-Naggar called upon the government to break its contract with Bin Talal, even if it meant going through international arbitration and paying a fine. "That land must be distributed to the Nubians relocated from their original land after the construction of the High Dam, and to the poor farmers of Egypt." El-Naggar calls for harsh punishments for those who made or facilitated these deals. Besides punishment, Ibrahim El-Gaafari, Muslim Brotherhood MP, wants the president to intervene, just as he did with the sale of Tut Amun village. The village was in the possession of Palm Hills, a joint venture in which the current housing minister, Ahmed El-Maghrabi, and former transportation minister, Mohamed Mansour, have stakes. Following debate in parliament on whether the company had paid a true value for the land in question, President Hosni Mubarak decided that the sale would be cancelled and that it would be leased for 49 years, rather than sold to investors. El-Gaafari said there is nothing wrong with encouraging investment by the private sector, but not at the expense of the people or of future generations. "We do not want to end up with Egypt's land in the hands of a few businessmen," he said. He said that the National Agency for Planning the Use of State Land has not been effective. Omar El-Shawadfi, head of the agency, explained to the Weekly that although the agency was created in 2001 it only became active in 2005. He explained that the agency, affiliated to the prime minister, is in charge of allocating land to the various ministries, but that each is responsible for follow-up and supervision of their lots. El-Shawadfi told the Weekly that the agency does not have jurisdiction to address violations, and although there is a clause that states that the agency should take part in the pricing and protection of state land, that has not yet gone into effect. He also has been quoted as saying that those known for infractions should only be allowed to lease land for a limited time period. He also assured that a unified law will be soon be issued to protect state land. Sultan Abu Ali, former minister of economy, is also in favour of firm action. "This is corruption that should never have taken place and it must be dealt with decisively." He too encourages development by the private sector as long as it contributes to long-term development. "Otherwise, it is the people and public interest that is at stake."
