Families from Manshiyat Nasr area are threatening to cut Kasr El-Aini Street, one of the main arteries of Cairo, which also passes by the parliament, if the government does not solve their housing problems.
Not less than 180 families held a sit-in at the cabinet headquarters in Cairo from yesterday, objecting to not receiving new houses. The families stated that they had enough of official promises, whether from Cairo governorate, the cabinet, or the Ministry of Local Development.
The families complained that the assistant secretary of the Cairo governor told them that the Suzanne Mubarak Housing Project was owned by the Ministry of Housing and not the governorate, and that they can’t get units in the project despite some families from Duweiqa already receiving units there this week.
The governorate currently has units in Othman Housing Project on Al-Wahat highway, but the families reject these units as they lack basic services and facilities while the project is located far away from their jobs.
The families managed cut Kasr El-Aini street last night, though army officers managed to reopen it. Despite a mass protest planned for Tahrir Square tomorrow, the families are renewing their threat today to stop traffic on the vital Downtown street.
The families have refused to stay at Orascom Haram City as the units they were given were too small for a family with an average of five persons. The Cairo governorate provided those units to the families after the Duweqia rockslide in September 2008.
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