From Asmarat & Bashayer al Khair to Ahalina 2 as Sisi pursues decent housing

18 / 10 / 2021

By Marwa Nassar - -

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi inaugurated on October 16 via video conference new housing projects nationwide for residents of 22 unsafe areas under Ahalina 2 project.

This comes in pursuance of President Sisi’s efforts to secure decent housing for all Egyptians and improve their living conditions in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG11).

President Sisi has been keen on getting rid of slum areas so that Egypt would restore its charm and people would live in better conditions.

During the inauguration of Ahalina 2, Head of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority Ihab el Far gave a presentation on the progress made in implementing various stages in the Ahalina (Our People) housing project, which is carried out by the Armed Forces Engineering Authority.

The president inaugurated alternative housing projects in the Sixth of October City as well as in Sharm el sheikh’s Rowaisat, Sayyeda Zeinab’s Rawda, Ras el Bar, Salam’s Maan area, Obour’s Rawda and Hurghada.

He said that the newly inaugurated housing units under the Ahalina 2 phase include 34 residential blocks on an area of 15 feddans.

The total cost of this phase stood at EGP 1.1 billion.

He explained that the authority is overseeing the construction of 3,200 residential units in the Greater Cairo area to serve unsafe areas residents as part of the Ahalina 3. The execution rates in this phase, which extends over an area of 35 feddans, have reached 45 percent.

Meanwhile, he noted that Ahalina 4 will comprise 3,700 residential buildings on a total area of 45 feddans.
Ahalina 5 is set to start next month and will include three new areas, El-Far added.

About Ahalina 1:

Earlier, President Sisi had opened the social housing project in El-Salam 1 District under “Ahalina 1″.

The project – established on an area of 11 feddans -consists of 25 residential buildings, each building has 12 floors and each floor contains 4 residential units with an area of 90 meters with an electric elevator for each building. 32 housing units of them have been allocated for people with special needs. Ramps and wide doors were made especially for them.

Moreover, an electrical network, a water supply network, a 1,100 cubic meter tank to serve the project, two sewerage and rain networks were established.

There is also a fire network for all residential, administrative and service buildings. 4 water wells to irrigate green areas were established as well. A shopping mall and 84 stores were built so as to provide job opportunities for the residents of the region.

A primary school with a total of 28 classrooms was fully finished and equipped. Moreover, the project includes an integrated medical center for health care services, a mosque that takes up to 500 persons and 18 workshops to provide job opportunities for women and men in this project.

Asmarat project:

Ahalina project was not the first of its kind in Egypt, the president had earlier inaugurated the three-stage “Asmarat” low-cost housing project in Muqqattam district of Cairo.

In 2016, President Sisi inaugurated the first two phases of “Asmarat” in Muqqattam district of Cairo.

Asmarat project was established on an area of 126 feddans with more than 10,980 housing units along with services utilities.

It was set up through cooperation between the Ministry of Housing Informal Settlement Development Fund (ISDF) and the Ministry of Local Development and Long Live Egypt Fund at a total cost of EGP 1.582 billion.

In 2020, President Sisi inaugurated the third phase of Asmarat 3 Housing Project, including thousands of fully-serviced housing units with full facilities.

The president also opened the largest service complex that would serve around 100,000 residents of the three phases of Asmarat housing project.

Bashayer al Khair Project in Alexandria:

President Sisi also launched the three-stage housing project of Bashayer al Khair in Alexandria for developing slum areas.
In September 2016, the president inaugurated Bashayer al Khair 1 for developing Alexandria’s slum area of Gheit el Enab.

This area was upgraded in about 18 months.

Under the 12 -feddan project, 17 buildings for 1,632 housing units were established to absorb over 8,000 people of the area’s residents.
The project also included the establishment of a mosque, hospital, shopping mall, educational park, a center for disabled persons, and a vocational training center.

In December 2018, Bashayer al Khair 2 was launched.

Under the project, 37 buildings were set up with a total of 1,869 housing units fully supplied with facilities, furniture, and all preparations with an aim to provide a decent life for about 10,000 citizens. There are also 4 elevators for each residential block and a commercial area of 17,000square meters, consisting of 338 shops.

The commercial area also includes 13 shopping malls on an area of 915 square meters.

In May 2020, President Sisi inaugurated the third phase of Bashayer al Khair project which aimed at achieving qualitative leap to provide adequate and appropriate housing for the citizens of the shanty area of “fishermen’s shelter”.

Bashayer al Khair 3 consists of 200 residential buildings with 10,624 housing units. More than 50,000 citizens benefit from this project.

The project also includes a 30-feddan investment, a cinema complex, a bank complex, a number of multi-purpose halls, cafes and shops.

President Sisi has pledged to improve Egyptians’ living conditions, especially through securing decent housing for them. This goes in line with Egypt Vision 2030 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.