Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb signed an initial agreement on the development of the Maspero area, after six months of negotiations. The development agreement will include the government on the one hand and the people of the area, investors and owners on the other hand. The terms of the initial agreement include property development in Maspero through the redistribution of property, according to a Cabinet statement Tuesday. This redistribution will ensure the rights of all, with a consultant office assigned to develop a vision for re-planning the area into service and investment residential sectors. The project depends on the establishment of a large service area in the space between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, overlooking the Nile Corniche, and the Maspero building of the Egyptian television. The remaining area will be for the purpose of real estate, as well as cultural and entertainment investments. The dispute between residents and businesses in Maspero has been ongoing for many years due to the overlap of ownership and encroachment of land. There has also been disapproval of most of the area's residents to leave their homes. The project comes within the implementation framework of the state's plan to improve the living standards of poor and marginalised groups, said Minister of Urban Development Laila Iskander, during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. The meeting occurred in the presence of the Governor of Cairo, Galal Al-Saeed, and representatives of the people of the area, a number of investors, and some stakeholders. According to Al-Saeed, the Bulaq district office is concerned with notifying the residents with the dates to provide their documents, to enumerate the population of the region, and their properties. Two committees will then be formed: one for the enumeration and negotiation; and the other for evaluation. "Initial enumeration of Maspero area indicates that there are 3,100 families and about 857 shops," the governor said. Al-Saeed emphasised that the review of documents and property deeds will be the task of the enumeration committee that includes three representatives of the area's residents, agreed upon by the residents, among its members. Their inclusion on the committee will ensure the identification of residents and deny any outsiders from applying. The Maspero area, located in the west of Cairo neighbourhood, is in the form of a triangle between Al-Galaa Street, Nile Corniche, and 26th of July Bridge. It is comprised of about 72 acres, 68% of which are slums, according to statements by Cairo governorate.
