CAIRO - Nobody can deny that the recent revolution has had a positive impact on citizens, but, in the absence of security, some people have been committing serious violations. Since the start of the revolution, the illegal construction of housing has soared nationwide, while demolition orders slapped on many buildings haven't been implemented and the violators haven't been punished. Since the outbreak of the revolution, the owners of many buildings have been hurriedly running up extra floors on top of them, regardless of the fact that these buildings might be unable to support them. They only want to make more money, even if it means endangering the lives of other residents in the blocks of flats they own. The number of violations in 22 districts in Cairo has doubled to around 20,000, many of them because Helwan City was recently reincorporated into Cairo Governorate, according to Governor Abdel-Qawi Khalifa. He stresses that there is a plan to demolish all these illegal constructed extra floors, in co-ordination with police and Armed Forces. Indeed the demolitions have already started in Old Cairo, Helwan and Bassateen. Meanwhile, Giza Governor Ali Abdel-Rahman says that he has authorised heads of districts to demolish all encroachments on State properties in Giza and 6th October cities. He notes that the violations in Giza Governorate have doubled since last February to about 15,000. “Citizens have been exploiting the security vacuum to build additional floors without licences and also construct buildings on agricultural land. “In Al-Tawabeq district of Giza, there were many violations, before the revolution and, since the revolution started, they have been continuing apace. “One man illegally built three extra floors on a block of flats, before the revolution. We demolished them and then he rebuilt them after the revolution!” says Abdel-Rahman. Mohamed Youssri, who lives in Al-Tawabeq, says that the streets there are very narrow and there is very little space between the illegally built high-rises there. “The sewerage is also dreadful, but the concerned officials turn a blind eye to the problem,” he adds. Mohamed Abdel-Hakim, another local citizen, told Al-Wafd opposition newspaper that favouritism and nepotism are still rife, even after the revolution, which means that many illegally constructed floors never get demolished. “Laws and regulations aren't the answer, because people ignore them,” says Abu Zeid Rageh, former chairman of the Housing, Construction and Urban Planning Centre. “The answer to overpopulation is to carefully plan new developments in the desert, but outside the fertile Delta,” according to Rageh. In Egypt, only 5 per cent of the landmass is inhabited; this percentage obviously needs to be increased.
