The "eradication" of slums in Egypt, which make up 40 percent of its urban areas, will cost around LE250 billion according to Sherif El-Gohary, a technical support manager at the Ministry of Urban Renewal and Informal Settlements.
In an interview with Aswat Masriya website El-Gohary said that 37 percent of urban space in Egypt consists of informal settlements while "unsafe slums" are roughly 1 percent of urban areas. There are a total of 364 slum areas nationwide.
"Egypt Without Slums", a 3-year plan aimed at eradicating 258 slum areas, is almost ready for launching, he added.
The project is in cooperation with university students who will be trained during the summer to assess and monitor slum areas in the vicinity of their campuses.
"Egypt needs between LE200 to 250 billion in order to get rid of slums and unsafe zones," El-Gohary said, adding that these estimates are beyond the state's capabilities.
The ministry for its part is close to implementing a preliminary sample of a project developing 44 slum areas in Cairo and Giza.
The project which is expected to conclude in November 2015 will help shape a more precise assessment of the budget needed to remove slums, he adds.
Consecutive Egyptian governments have vowed to develop the informal areas where millions of Egyptians live without basic services such as clean water and sewage. In June 2014, the Ministry of Urban Renewal and Informal Settlements was created, headed by former environment minister Laila Iskandar.
