Within the framework of supporting the efforts paid in cooperation between the state's bodies and civil society to execute the urgent plans for improving the living conditions of citizens in unsafe and dangerous residential areas, the Armed Forces Engineering Authority, in cooperation with a number of companies, developed 45 ashwa'yat (informal settlements) in Cairo, Giza, and Helwan governorates, within the cooperation protocol with the Informal Settlements Development Fund and Federation of Egyptian Banks. The projects that were carried out in these areas included improving networks of drinking water, sanitation, and firefighting, paving and lighting major and side streets, installing interlock paving stones in passages, establishing a number of markets to serve citizens, and reconstructing a number of houses. In the Cairo governorate, 17 informal settlements were developed, while in the Giza governorate, 13 informal settlements were developed. Continuing these efforts to eliminate ashwa'yat, 36 projects are being carried out to develop the living quarters with a total of 15,894 units, of which the Armed Forces Engineering Authority is supervising their execution in unsafe areas. The third phase of El-Asmarat project, of which Long Live Egypt Fund is responsible for funding, comes within the state's plan to eliminate the ashwa'yat. Executive manager in the El-Asmarat neighbourhood project, Mohamed Shehata, affiliated with a construction company, said that the entire project consists of about 140 residential building. The residential buildings consist of a ground floor and nine other floors, and in some buildings, the ground floor includes only three flats, while the rest of the area is left for commercial shops, according to Shehata. Executive manager in the project Ahmed Ezzat, affiliated with a construction company, says that he is responsible for 10 residential buildings, and that 45% of construction in the buildings is completed, and that the project is decided to be completed over the next year. Head of El-Asmarat neighbourhood Hasan El-Ghandour said that the operations are being carried out consistently in the third phase of the El-Asmarat project in order to execute the instructions of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and to eliminate ashwa'yat in Egypt quickly. He said also that the third phase will see a leap in the world of constructing "low-income housing". For the first time, "low-income residential buildings" consisting of 10 flats, including a ground floor and two elevators, will be established. Each building will include 60 residential flats, with a total of about 7,000 residential units, and Al-Sisi will inaugurate them in June, according to El-Ghandour. El-Ghandour said also that the first phase of El-Asmarat included 6,138 residential units that were fully prepared and that 850 families have been moved to these units as of now, while other families are still being moved from the ashwa'yat. As for the second phase, it included 4,470 units, and these units will be received next month, according to El-Ghandour.
