Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi threatened today that the army could deploy to all Egyptian villages to remove the illegal buildings erected on their lands, especially the assault on agricultural lands, and the Egyptian authorities launched a campaign two years ago to remove illegal construction on thousands of hectares of cultivated areas.
Al-Sisi considered during the inauguration of some projects in the city of Alexandria, in the west of the country, that the assault on state lands is no less dangerous than the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, and that it is as dangerous as the threat of terrorism, as he put it.
In angry language, the Egyptian President gave the Egyptians the choice between whether their country was a country of law or to leave his post, adding that the authorities had provided sufficient engineering equipment to eliminate all encroachments on the lands of others.
Addressing those who have turned farmland into housing, Sisi said the return on cultivating the land is greater than making it poor and then building on it.
Those who objected to the Building Violations Law and saw the fine are large. Do you want to see the size of the violations that are taking place in Egypt?
Grave infringements to the extent of the chief violence against the conservatives because they are unable to stop this attack and the army threatens to take over the file if they fail?
The matter is really dangerous # The people of Egypt are with you and Yaris pic.twitter.com/fADsbTUKeC
- Long live Egypt (@ shimaa3060) August 29, 2020
And the official Middle East News Agency reported that Al-Sisi asked during the presentation of an aerial survey of agricultural land in an Egyptian village that had completely turned into building blocks, "Where are the governor, and the localities, where are the village youth who see the waste of precious land transformed into buildings," noting that this is one village out of about 4,500 villages. The agency added that President El-Sisi assigned Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly to work with all governorates to confront land encroachments.
It is noteworthy that the Egyptian authorities launched a campaign at the end of 2018 to remove the encroachment on 19 thousand feddans (1900 hectares) of agricultural land, after legal amendments entered into force at the beginning of the same year, and stipulated imprisonment for a period of up to five years for everyone who builds on the land Agricultural sector, as well as a fine of up to five million Egyptian pounds ($ 315,000).
The Cairo authorities said that they are seeking to provide housing for the poor with the aim of limiting construction on agricultural land, and analysts say that many units in the new government housing projects are expensive, and that the services there are insufficient. As a result, a large number of new housing units remain vacant, while people continue to construct unauthorized buildings on agricultural land.