Egypt’s FY20 budget allocates 10.8 bln pounds for slums development

The Egyptian government-led Slums Development Fund’s (SDF) current financial year budget allocates 10.8 billion Egyptian pounds ($673.7 million) for upgrading informal settlements across the country, its executive director said on Wednesday.

The Fund has already implemented development works worth more than 3 billion pounds during the first half of the 2019/2020 financial year, Khaled Sedeek told Amwal Al Ghad.

This is part of the SDF’s plan directed to develop high-risk slums as well as the Maspero Triangle project, Sedeek said.

A total amount of 22 billion pounds was spent on developing slums across the country over the past 6 years, he added. Meanwhile, the Fund spent around 32 billion pounds on high-risk slums during the same period.

Approximately 850,000 citizens are residing in slum areas across the country. Since 2014, the Ministry of Housing has addressed this challenge by constructing 20,000 homes in safe areas, worth 3 billion pounds, and 74,000 more units are being implemented, worth 14.5 billion pounds.

Several projects have been approved by the government over the past period within its strategy to resolve the widespread slum crises in Egypt’s governorates and cities.