The Agriculture and Irrigation Committee of the Egyptian Parliament, chaired by MP Hisham Al-Hosary, convened today to address several public complaints. Among them was a petition concerning nearly 300 investors who have not received their plots in the Sidi Abdel Rahman area of the North Coast, despite making reservation payments over 20 years ago.
Eng. Tarek Hamed Al-Sherbiny, Chairman of the Holding Company for Land Reclamation and Groundwater Research, explained that the Egyptian Real Estate Company was allocated 10,000 feddans in 2000 by the Reconstruction Authority. Infrastructure worth EGP 34 million, funded by the government and the investors, was established on the land. However, the land was reclaimed in 2001 by the Reconstruction Authority and transferred to the New Urban Communities Authority without compensating the company or the investors.
The committee recommended further discussions in an upcoming meeting, inviting the Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities and the Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation to find a resolution for the affected investors.
Separately, the committee addressed a petition regarding agricultural land damage in several villages of Semsta, Beni Suef, due to the lack of agricultural drainage.
Mohamed Youssef, Director of the General Administration of Drainage in Beni Suef, stated that the Drainage Research Institute conducted a study proposing six new cut-off drains and the expansion and deepening of eight existing drains. These measures aim to manage rising water levels in the affected areas. However, funding requests sent to the governorate and the Agricultural Development and Reconstruction Authority remain unanswered.
The committee recommended forming a task force comprising representatives from the Reconstruction and Development Authority, Beni Suef Drainage Administration, the local agriculture directorate, and the governorate’s secretary-general. This team, along with the MP who submitted the petition, will work on solutions to the drainage issue to safeguard agricultural productivity.