Egypt parliament to amend law combating illegal construction: Madbouly

Gamal Essam El-Din , Monday 8 Aug 2022

The government and parliament are “very serious” about putting an end to the construction offences that had run rampant in recent years, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Monday.

A view of houses and farmland on an island on the River Nile in front of high-rise buildings in Cairo (Reuters)

"The state will never tolerate a repetition of the previous construction offences that led to the loss of some of Egypt's most fertile land and were mainly to blame for the proliferation of slum areas and haphazardly built communities," Madbouly said.

Madbouly revealed that "work teams are now everywhere in all governorates and are in charge of tracking down offences and taking immediate action to eliminate them."

Madbouly made the statement at the end of a meeting with Minister of Justice Omar Marawan, Minister of Local Development Mahmoud Shaarawi, Minister of Housing Assem El-Gazzar, and head of parliament's Local Development Committee Ahmed El-Sigini.

"The government has recently been taking a lot of measures to crack down on construction offences and to take the procedures necessary to reach reconciliation on these offences with citizens," PM Madbouly said.

"In this respect, we are making use of the current parliamentary recess to amend the law regulating reconciliation in construction offences to present it to the House of Representatives in its new legislative season – which is scheduled to begin in the first week of October."

Madbouly indicated that "the government is keen for the House's leading MPs to attend all meetings in a bid to reach consensus on the law's articles."

For his part, Minister of Justice Omar Marawan clarified that the ministry is currently amending articles that have caused problems on the ground.

"We have already finalised amending the problematic articles and now there is agreement on the new rules of reconciliation in the amended law," said Marawan, affirming that "preparation of the amended law will be finalised very soon to be at the top of the agenda of the House in its new legislative season."

Egypt's law tackling "reconciliation in construction offences" was passed in April 2019, and has since been amended more than once.

Sources say the new batch of amendments will give more facilities for citizens to "reach reconciliation" with authorities on construction offences. These facilities will expand to include offences that do not present a big risk to the lives of citizens or to the public interest.