Egypt lost up to 400,000 feddans between 1980 and 2011, and an additional 90,000 feddans in the past nine years, to building violations and land encroachments, according to Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.
The prime minister reiterated on Saturday the state’s adoption of ‘resolute’ measures to stop building violations on agricultural land nationwide.
At a press briefing in Qalioubiya, Madbouly said building violations and land encroachments were among the most important and complex issues and challenges facing the state.
He said the state aims to overcome a decades-long crisis through reforms and putting an end to further violations and accumulated mistakes, adding that failing to address the issue would lead to its exacerbation.
Unplanned buildings constitute about 50 percent of the urban clusters in villages and cities countrywide, Madbouly pointed out.
He vowed to introduce new facilities for citizens wishing to rectify the status of their buildings to encourage them to speed up the submission of settlement requests.
Egypt said on Friday it has reduced reconciliation fees over building violations by 20 percent to 70 percent in 23 governorates, with Cairo seeing higher discounts.
