Issue No. 602
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5 - 11 September 2002 Issue No. 602 Features |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
The right to a roof
Last week's earthquake brought to the forefront, once again, the country's seemingly intractable housing crisis. Fatemah Farag sums up the agenda
This is the urban millennium. Today, according to Habitat, an NGO working to improve housing conditions worldwide, half of the world's six billion people live in cities and the world is facing the unprecedented growth of its urban population, mainly in the developing world. It is not necessarily a sign of progress: an estimated 100 million people live with no shelter at all, nearly 70 million children live in the streets, 1.6 billion people live in "precarious housing", 70 per cent of them women.
Click to view caption(top) The construction business in Egypt is booming. But who is building for the poor? (left) a typical alleyway in Boulaq Abul-Ela Such is a world, according to Anna Falu, vice- president of Habitat International Coalition, "Where globalisation, privatisation of services, withdrawal by the state from its responsibilities more and more affect the critical condition of the poorest, in a scenario dominated by the market. This reflects the cynicism of certain governments which, in their constitutions, endorse human rights."
It is a state of affairs we tend all too often to ignore -- except when the earth shakes beneath our feet, as it did during last week's minor (4.7 on the Richter scale) quake that affected the greater Cairo area. Only a few buildings fell, but that is probably because most of the serious damage had already been done on 12 October 1992 when 205 buildings collapsed, 3,759 buildings were severely damaged all of which resulted in hundreds killed and seriously injured not to mention LE4 billion in damages.
On the one hand there is the issue of the availability of affordable housing in light of a fast- growing population and rural migration patterns. Milad Hanna, an urban planning specialist and the author of many books on the housing problem in Egypt explained to Al-Ahram Weekly, "in the mid-1970s, housing economics changed. The price of land increased 100 to 200 times and the cost of construction, 20 to 40 times. This meant that building low-cost housing became very difficult and rents increased to the point that they exceeded the capabilities of the poorer strata in society." This in a country where application of the internationally agreed on standard for poverty (an income of less than $2 per day) to official statistics suggests that 52.7 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line.
The result has been the proliferation of shanty towns -- communities in which the housing, in most cases, does not have potable water or sewage facilities in addition to basic amenities such as garbage collection, health and security facilities. And this is the other dimension of the problematic: the quality of "housing" available to the poor. The exact number of people living in shanty towns is unclear. The 1997 census showed that 17 per cent of the population lived in informal housing communities while independent statistics put the figure as high as 40 per cent. The discrepancy, according to specialists, is a mere function of definition, however, experts concur that the latter figure is probably more representative of the phenomenon.
Areas in which informal housing is prevalent became a concern for the government in the early 1990s within the framework of combating terrorism. When it took the security forces three weeks to crush the forces of militant Islamist groups that had taken the area of Ezbet Al- Mufti in the working class district of Imbaba as their stronghold, the deplorable conditions of such areas came to public attention and a pledge to "upgrade" shanty areas was made.
The First Conference on Urban Planing held in Cairo in 1994 identified the lack of a comprehensive urban planning vision as a major factor behind the extensive slum areas: the great increase in population was not accompanied by the necessary increase in the area of land designated for housing.
But "upgrading" is expensive and, to date, even places that have been accorded high priority, such as Ezbet Al-Mufti, continue to lack basic services.
And finally, there is the matter of the quality of construction. A 1995 World Bank report on the Construction Industry in Egypt, states that 80 per cent of housing built between 1966 and 1986 was shanty housing. Further, the annual Al-Ahram Strategic Report for 1995 indicates that 84 per cent of total construction in the 1980s was informal housing.
Such statistics help to put into perspective the recent press reports which include information released by the Ministry of Housing to the effect that 96 per cent of the buildings in Cairo and 85 per cent of the buildings in Giza violate building codes.
For its part, the Ministry of Housing has reiterated time and time again that its policy is "creating more urgently needed housing units; upgrading informal settlements; and environmental management". In a statement made recently to the UN General Assembly, Mohamed Ibrahim Soliman, minister of housing, public utilities and urban communities, said, "Government efforts since 1996 to provide shelter for all can be illustrated by the 'Mubarak National Project for Youth' and 'Future Housing' projects. These initiatives are aimed at constructing 140,000 housing units through a package equally co-financed by private investment and the residents themselves, through 'soft loans' with monthly payments staggered over 40 years."
The aim is not only to secure houses for economically disadvantaged households, but also to improve the living environment, services and standards. This can be illustrated by such urban development projects as: the "Manshiet Nasser Upgrading Project", "Comprehensive Development for the City of Luxor", and "Sustainable Ismailia Governorate Project".
These are commendable efforts. But for the millions who continue to suffer the lack of a safe and humane home the development mantra to 'leave rhetoric behind and start working together for a sustained future' remains more than relevant.
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