3.6 million metres of land has been encroached upon in Cairo, the city’s governor Atef Abdel-Hamid announced on Friday.

In press statements, Abdel-Hamid said that the governorate, along with the state, has established a committee to recover land following a comprehensive inventory that revealed that 17,000 pieces of land covering an area of 3.6 million metres has been encroached upon.

He added that the return of such state owned lands was currently ongoing between the governorate, security facilities, and the armed forces, also saying that some of those who have obtained the lands illegally have reached out to legalise their status.

He called on those holding the lands illegally to give them up instead of being involved in a conflict with the state, pointing out that the legal administration of the governorate has been mandated with receiving ownership papers to verify their legality.

The governor stressed that there was no laxity in recovering state owned lands, revealing that a second wave to recover land would take place in the coming days.

A first wave of “liberating” the land has lead to the retrieval of 135,000 square meters in several areas, worth EGP 1 billion, including in Maadi, El-Basateen, and Helwan.

Egypt has been pushing with efforts to retrieve looted state lands through a committee established in February that aims to redeem stolen state land in accordance with the law governing each authority.

Land recovered by the committee has been held for auction for incorporation into the government's developmental plans

Source: Ahram online