CAIRO: Even with all of the talk regarding reforms - both political and business related - the majority of Egypt's population remains poor.The total number of informal housing quarters,including shantytowns and slums, range from 1,150 (according to government statistics) to 1,430 (according to local NGO statistics) with a combined total of over 15 million inhabitants nationwide. Informal housing quarters, according to the Egyptian Center for Housing Rights,are residential areas built outside of the framework of the Housing Ministry; these informal areas have been rapidly expanding in area and population since this phenomenon emerged in the mid-1970s. Abdel Salam Mahgoub, the governor of Alexandria, likened "the rapid growth of informal housing quarters with "a ghoul, adding that "the corruption of local officials is largely responsible for the deterioration of living conditions and also for the spread of informal housing quarters. Raafat Ahmad Mohammad, a resident of the informal housing quarter of Ezzbet El Haggana in Nasr City, spoke of the living conditions of his quarter's co-residents. "People in Nasr City are dismayed when water cut-offs and electricity black-outs occur. But here in Ezzbet El Haggana, especially further up in the hills, we have no running water supply, no electricity lines.We fill up containers of water from the nearest source, we use lanterns for illumination; others invest in collective electricity generators. We've heard lots of talk from the government regarding the extension of public utilities - but then again talk is cheap. The reality of the situation is that we are a marginalized and a forgotten people. The state has, in fact, done little in terms of developing informal housing quarters, and even less in terms of assisting the inhabitants of these areas. Nevertheless, the ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) housing program for 2005-2011 includes plans for "developing informal housing quarters, which are to be carried out through: The dispatching of technicians to assist in the planning and development of informal housing quarters; the extension of the public utilities of water and electricity to the residents of these areas; planning for the development of informal areas so as to improve living conditions and to control the unchecked expansion of shantytowns and, finally, the provision of vocational training, job opportunities and small loans for those unemployed youths residing in informal housing quarters, with the aim of raising the social and economic standards of these areas. "We support the NDP's plans, and hope to see this program implemented. It's a great plan, on paper, but we know that the state has not allocated enough money in its budget to carry out these ambitious development projects. In effect the NDP's plans only pay lip service to the needs of the inhabitants of informal housing quarters, said Manal Al Tibi, the director of the Egyptian Center for Housing Rights. In fact, however, what may be expected of the state, on the national level, and of the governorates on the local level, is the demolition of informal dwellings and a relocation of their inhabitants. On Nov. 27, the Minister of State for Local Development, Abdel Raheem Shehata, unveiled his Ministry's plans to convert informal housing quarters, in seven different governorates, into land for new investment projects - these plans are to be executed starting December 2005. Since the beginning of December, the governorates of Giza, Gharbiya, South Sinai, Port Said, Suez, Sohag and Aswan have undertaken programs involving reusing the land on which certain informal housing quarters are built (by demolishing dwellings) for the purpose of turning these areas into land for investors. According to Shehata "these governorates have determined that certain shantytowns are 'unfit for residence' and are 'incapable of development'. The Giza Governorate marked the two quarters of Old Agouza, and Dahab Island, in Southern Giza, for demolition; the Gharbiya Governorate has decided to demolish Tal al Hadadin, in Tanta, and to relocate its residents; the South Sinai Governorate determined that Al Aasla, in the town of Dahab, is to be removed; Port Said announced its plans to tear down the two quarters of Nasser and Al Salam; the Suez Governorate has decided to remove the shantytown of Al Mahrousa Al Gadida; the Governorate of Sohag announced the pending demolition of the Al Deriesa quarter along with its bordering areas and in Aswan, Al Tabiya, is to be torn down and its residents relocated. The dwellings of Cairo's informal housing quarter of Hekr Abu Domma, which lies along the Eastern bank of the Nile by Maspero, have already been subjected to a gradual process of demolitions since 2001; its residents have received compensation from the state averaging LE 15,000 - 45,000 per family for relocation. "The land on which Hekr Abu Domma is built, in downtown Cairo along the Nile, is amongst the plots of land yielding the highest real estate values in Egypt where each square meter of land is valued at approximately LE 50,000. In effect, the state is profiteering through the removal of this area and the relocation of its dwellers. With compensations usually averaging less than LE 45,000 per family, the inhabitants of Hekr Abu Domma may be expected to relocate to other informal housing quarters - thus perpetuating these families' substandard living conditions. Momtaz Ragab, a resident of a building neighboring Hekr Abu Doma,said that "it was not only the informal housing quarters that were demolished; the non-slum areas to the East and West of Hekr Abu Domma were also torn down. Our building, and another neighboring building, are the only structures of their type left standing in the area; two nearby schools are also due to be torn down shortly. "All these acts of demolition were based on a Prime Ministerial Decree issued in 2001 stipulating that all dwellings in the vicinity of Hekr Abu Domma are to be demolished due to their susceptibility to collapse. The area was to be reclaimed for "public benefit projects - this is not true, however.The whole area was demolished because the state knew that it could make a very handsome profit by reclaiming the land, and they know that they will be able to make profits of tens of millions of pounds by selling this land to private investors.These actions are unconstitutional and unlawful, added Ragab. Khadiga Abbas, a resident of the other building left standing, stated that "all the residents of this area, whether inhabitants of formal or informal dwellings, were offered alternative housing in the new city of Al Nahda - out in the desert at the outskirts of the Cairo governorate, nearly 100 kilometers away from our places of work, without proper infrastructure, public utilities and with very few means of transport. Naturally, everybody rejected the state's offer for relocation to Al Nahda. Instead, the slum dwellers received compensations averaging LE 30,000 - although this is much less than the actual price of the lands on which they were living. We were offered LE 70,000 in compensation,but our apartment costs over LE 100,000. We've filed complaints to the prime minister, the ministry of housing and the Cairo governorate, but have received no replies - other than the threats that our building will soon be torn down.All this is so unjust. According to Al Tibi, "in many cases demolitions render whole communities homeless. These people are often provided only tents until they are able to receive some kind of monetary compensation from the state. These tents people frequently have to wait for several months, if not years, to receive compensation or replacement housing - sometimes they receive neither. Some progress has been made by the authorities in certain informal areas regarding the development of informal housing quarters.Certain shantytowns in Manshiyet Nasser and Bulaq El Dakrour have been connected, to a large extent, with water and electricity. Paved roads and garbage collection were also introduced - especially during 1998. Al Tibi refers to these efforts as "beautification projects, as opposed to development projects. However, the clearest case of development has been in the informal housing quarter of Zenhom, by Nasr City. This development initiative, launched by First Lady Suzanne Mubarak in 1997, in her capacity as the President of the Egyptian Red Crescent, is based on the division of Zenhom into three locales, each being dealt with in successive stages. December 9, 2005 marked the beginning of the third stage involving the construction of 75 new residential buildings to re-house 1,000 families from the area. Over 2000 inhabitants of Zenhom have been re-housed near their original places of residence and employment. Inroads have also been made in improving educational facilities in this quarter. Al Tibi, while recognizing the advances made in Zenhom, has questioned the motives behind doing so. "Zenhom was not on any development, or rehousing, agenda, until 1997-98,when the new Red Crescent headquarters was being built in Nasr City - directly adjacent to the Zenhom slums. With the headquarters overlooking the slums, the first lady determined that something must be done to clean up the contiguous housing problem - simply because it didn't look attractive.
