Interim President Adly Mansour issued a presidential decree Saturday to allocate around 885,000 acres of state-owned land to the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) in order to establish an urban community in El-Alamein, Matruh Governorate, the State Information Service reported. Mansour also announced plans to allocate a total of 145,820 acres to the National Authority for Drinking Water and Sanitation in order to implement water projects in Luxor, Qena, Sohag, and Beni Suef Governorates. A new urban community will be established in Al-Salheya Al-Gedida City in Sharqeya Governorate consisting of 1,500 buildings and villas and 50 commercial shops, the Ministry of Housing said in April, adding that five investors have applied for the project's tender. NUCA is currently amending the real estate regulations draft to be ready by the end of May, Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly said. The housing ministry has made several moves in an effort to activate the housing and construction sector. As part of a social housing programme that was adopted after the 25 January Revolution, the ministry announced the completion in April of more than 6,000 residential units in Borg Al-Arab, Alexandria. A total number of 50,000 residential units in the 10th of Ramadan, Al-Sadat and New Assiut cities, which are also part of the programme, were scheduled to begin accepting reservations in mid-April. In the same regard, the ministry said in March that nearly 25,000 government-subsidised residential units will be available for rent by 30 June. In a move that was deemed one of the largest construction contracts in the Arab region, the armed forces, in cooperation with UAE's Arabtec Construction Company, have announced plans to construct 1m residential units for low-income youth.
