Under the headline “Government building ivory castles while millions live in dungeons,” the English daily, Egyptian Gazette assailed the Ministry of Housing’s plan to build luxury homes.
The ministry has lately announced its project to erect the housing units, for each a buyer is to put up as little as 15 percent of their cost as a down-payment, and make monthly installment payments over 12 years at eight percent interest, but the price, LE250,000 (about $64,000), is hardly in the range of the average Egyptian citizen.
According to the paper, the announcement is another setback for long overdue low-cost housing projects. The cost of constructing these luxury homes, the ministry admits, will drain its financial resources for years. Yet the ministry insists the project is necessary to make up for the financial losses it incurred during the country's recent recession. Once these luxury projects begin to pay dividends, the ministry will turn its attention to low-cost housing.
"Bukra (tomorrow)," the government keeps saying. But industry insiders know tomorrow never comes, said the Gazette.
Bahaa Bakri, a professor at Cairo University's Faculty of Engineering, remains skeptical about the state's housing plans.
He was quoted in the report as saying that "it is good to adopt a profit-making housing project to grease the wheels of low-cost ones," he said, cautioning that the ministry has applied too much lubricant and not enough mortar. The government's immoderation has created a surplus of luxury housing, he added.
"The ministry deliberately overlooked the fact that the private sector is actively constructing deluxe real estate projects," Bakri said. "The ministry was supposed to fill the gap in the market by offering houses to lower income citizens and youth," he said, blasting the government for its housing policies.
"If the ministry continues its approach, shanty areas will mushroom," he warned. It is hard to believe there could be more shanty areas; official statistics acknowledge 882 shanty areas housing 11 million residents, about one-sixth of the population.
Magdi Karkar, a Cairo University professor, described the ministry's housing policy as 'ill-conceived'. While millions suffer in makeshift homes, the ministry is spending tens of billions of pounds on building new villas and chalets that are inhabited for just a few weeks of the year – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
