The Egyptian government has collected approximately 7.6 billion Egyptian pounds ($373 million) in reconciliation fees for building violations nationwide, according to the official spokesman of Local Development Ministry, Khaled Kassem.
The cabinet has received 1.18 million reconciliation requests for the building violations, he added.
Around 320 centres have been designated to receive the requests, he said.
A law passed this year allows a limited period of time for building owners to reconcile with the government over a variety of illegal building practices, on payment of fees.
The fees will be allocated for development in governorates and to upgrade the levels of services provided to citizens.
Officials announced a series of discounts on the fees recently ranging from 20 to 70 percent, depending on the governorate, with Cairo seeing higher discounts.
Discounts ranging from 15 to 25 percent on fees in new cities have also been announced.
Officials have stressed in the past weeks the adoption of “resolute” measures to stop building violations on agricultural land nationwide.
The country has seen a significant rise in illegal construction since the security vacuum that followed the 2011 uprising, with many people constructing multi-storey buildings without acquiring the necessary permits or complying with engineering safety standards.
It lost up to 400,000 feddans of land between 1980 and 2011, and an additional 90,000 feddans in the past nine years, to building violations and land encroachments.
Unplanned buildings constitute about 50 percent of the urban clusters in villages and cities countrywide, according to officials.
