(DNE / FILE PHOTO / Laurence Underhill)
The Cairo governorate is looking forward to surveying the available lands of the Cairo Nile corniche in the first quarter of 2015 to be offered in public auction in order to pump new investments, according to a senior official in the Cairo governorate.
The source, who preferred to remain anonymous, did not disclose the area of those lands.
In August 2014, Cairo Governor Galal Al-Said said that the governorate plans to take the appropriate action to resume the development plan of Hekr Abou Doma in the Roud Al-Farag area on the investment map, after more than 8-years of suspension.
Hekr Abou Doma is located along the Nile Corniche, with an area of 30,000 m². Approximately EGP 200m were sold to local and Gulf investors in public auctions in 2005. The companies should have completed the development of many projects in 2009, but the projects were suspended due to lack of building permits.
The land in question is characterised by an extreme discrepancy in affluence, with several high-rise developments, such as the Nile City towers and the World Trade Centre, offset by the informal settlements right behind them, occupied by extremely low-income residents.
Over two years ago, a major dispute arose between the Nile City towers and the residents of the informal housing area behind it, when a ruling expropriated the residents of their rights to the land, without providing them with alternative housing. The conflict reached a violent peak in July 2012 when an anonymous attack led to the use of shotguns and petrol bombs on the streets in front of the towers.
According to Al-Borsa newspaper, the Cairo governorate received an offer from a Saudi investor to buy 156,000 m² of Katameya lands for EGP 1.2bn.
“The investor has offered a feasibility study to develop the land, which includes implementing six factories, residential areas and international shopping centers,” Al-Said told Al-Borsa Newspaper.
Al-Said confirmed that the offer is being studied and they will form a technical committee. including investment and planning departments, to evaluate the studies presented and decide. He noted that they will discuss the offer within the Executive Council of the governorate.
