Gold rush
With golden beaches and crystal blue waters, Dahab is an idyllic spot. Dena Rashed, however, finds a snake in this little Garden of Eden
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From top: Charting the future; as urban development eats up the beach, controversy over land ownership reaches a head; some of the efforts to develop the city can be dubious: a new statute set up in central Dahab
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Dahab, some 600 kilometres south-east of Cairo, has long been known as a must-stop on the hippie trail and the ideal spot for tourists seeking off-the-beaten track beaches of the Sinai Peninsula. After Egypt regained the Sinai in 1982, however, Dahab also became a centre of attraction to young, Egyptian small-investors on the lookout for a land of promise outside of the congested Nile Valley.
At the time, buying land in this tiny resort town was not a difficult business. Local Bedouins were traditionally in charge of the land, and sales transactions went through them. The land grab was a contained process then; in 1982, Dahab had a mere 1,025 residents. But today with 5,839 residents and unclear tourism and municipal development plans, land ownership has become a major -- not to mention expensive -- issue. Ten years ago a metre of land cost anywhere between LE10 to LE30. Today the estimate is LE600 for sea plots and LE300 further inland.
The road to urban planning has proven bumpy, with conflicts of interests and disputes over land claims; today these are reaching a head as the City Council pushes forward with a comprehensive municipal development plan, expected to be completed within one year.
According to Ahmed El-Mursi, an electrician who has lived in Dahab since 1988, the current development of the city is going to cost him almost half of his property. "The city council wanted to pave a new road and both my house and my neighbour's were in the way. Originally the plan was that they would take four meters from my land and an equal area from my neighbour's land. One day I came home from work and found they had taken all eight metres they needed from my house alone," he recounted in anger. "My neighbour was heard telling the city council officials that he would compensate me for the land they did not take from him, but nobody asked for my consent to bring down my fence, take 90 per cent of my garden and lay down a road literally in my backyard," he added. "In total I have lost 104 metres from what used to be a 240- metre plot."
El-Mursi's case is by no means unique in Dahab and remedies appear in short supply. "I went several times to the city council to ask for a solution but nobody wants to dispense justice," he said.
The basic dilemma faced by El-Mursi and many other landowners in Dahab is that their very title to the land is in dispute. He bought his plot from local Bedouins. Bureaucratic obstacles have prevented such buyers from certifying legal ownership. And with the increase in the value of property, and plans to develop the city touristically, the government is no longer accepting the preliminary contracts signed with the Bedouins as legal title.
According to Mustafa Afifi, the governor of South Sinai, "We have managed to control the land ownership situation since 1986. After 1986 any purchase of land in Dahab had to be done through the governorate. If someone says he bought land from the Bedouins, there is nothing to verify he bought it in the first place." And hence the government no longer accepts preliminary contracts.
In 1995, 1996 and 1997, the city council announced the allocation of specified city properties to those who reside on them. And so landholders had to pay to buy their property again and finally legalise their ownership -- this time to the government. Part of the current municipal development plan is to have all lands within Dahab allocated once and for all.
Another long-time Dahab resident, Mohamed El-Sahn, thought he could avoid such problems by staying away from the centre of the town. "I came here to the desert to avoid all the problems associated with land ownership and there was nobody living here but me," he recounted. He bought his property from Bedouins 12 years ago and then was unable to certify his contract at the city council. As the resort town expanded, however, El-Sahn is no longer the only inhabitant of his area and now the council wants to put in roads that would encroach upon his property. "Right in front of me is an uninhibited piece of land and yet the city council wants to take a couple of metres from my garden to lay down the road," he added.
It is not that El-Sahn does not understand the importance of developing the town. However, he argues that, "People could wait for years in order to prove the ownership of their property and this will have dire effects on their lives and jobs." El Sahn suggests that a special mediation bureau should be set up to resolve conflicts between landowners and municipal development plans.
The fact that there remain serious loopholes in the current government strategy is illustrated by the case of Murad Mikhael; the conflict of the ownership of his land has resulted in landing him a month in jail and threatens his life's work. Murad, a blond, with blue eyes, could pass for a foreigner. But he is an Egyptian who had the opportunity to make a life in his mother's home country, Germany, and yet chose to return to Egypt and set up home and hearth in Dahab. "I was living in Germany, and President Hosni Mubarak was visiting the country then. He met with young Egyptians and he invited young investors to come to Egypt and start their own business," said Mikhael. He decided then to go to Dahab, still virgin land purported by the government to be open to all sorts of investment opportunities.
Mikhael started his business in Dahab in 1989. He made the capital investment of buying property and building three cabins that he rents out to foreign visitors -- divers in particular -- staying in Dahab for extended periods. For himself he built a small house on the same property and to supplement his income he also acts as a go-between foreigners who want to build houses or start their own businesses in Dahab and local contractors.
Mikhael's is a case in point. "When I first arrived I found out that everybody dealt with the Bedouins when it came to buying property so I chose my plot and signed the preliminary contracts," he explained. Mikhael admits the Bedouin who sold him the land did not give him the papers for all of the property at once. And so he did not give the seller the payment in full. After almost two years he paid in installments and received receipts indicating that the money he paid the seller was in return for the remainder of the plot; that which is currently under dispute. And although he certified the preliminary contract for the land in 1996, the certification does not guarantee the content of the contract, only the authenticity of the signatures of those who signed the contract.
The dispute reached a head when Mikhael attempted to upgrade the open plot next to his house. "They used to burn garbage in a plot of land next to my house. At the same time the city council suggested that businessmen should take the initiative of beautifying plots of land used as dump sites," recounts Mikhael. Accordinly he suggested to the city council that he develop the waste site next to his property into a garden; he says they agreed, but that when he started the project, the former Bedouin owners got upset. In return they set out to prove that part of his land where Mikhael currently resides is not his and is in fact still theirs and part of the dump-site property.
The city council refused to certify his ownership of that part, even though his electricity bills demonstrated residency since 1990. "I also have a voting card and I pay my business taxes too. And yet I could not prove my full ownership of the land," he said.
His troubles did not stop there. It also appears that the disputed part of Mikhael's land trespasses a public water pipe. Ultimately, since Mikhael had no certified paper from the governorate proving ownership the local government decided to evict him. "The City Council obtained a court order to evict me from the land. But this is my home and I refused to leave. And so I was sentenced to one month in prison for not executing the eviction order," he added "Upon my release last month I requested the city council to sell me my property without forcing an eviction, but my request was refused. My two-year old daughter, my wife and myself have no other home." Mikhael has since sent his wife and daughter to Cairo given his residential insecurity.
And while Mikhael's story is compelling, the city council has another version. "Mikhael has problems with the Bedouins. He bought land but also usurped land that was not his," said Mahmoud Eissa, head of the City Council of Dahab. "He already received a court order, and therefore his case is closed." Eissa believes that Mikhael does not posses sufficient proof regarding his ownership of the disputed part of land.
As for the stalled process of land allocation in the city, Eissa admitted that it should have been completed by 30 June, "but because the area of the land is big, we were not able to finish but 50 per cent of the [allocation]."
Within the general state of confusion, specific problems surface. Some of those interviewed by Al-Ahram Weekly complained that the Bedouins will sometimes sell the same piece of property to more than one person. Gharib Mustafa wanted to buy a plot of land next to his coffee shop. "I knew I must make sure that the current owner had not sold [this plot] previously and this is very difficult to verify," he explained.
Other problems include mismeasurement of plots as well as the fact that contracts sometimes specify the area of the plot in relation to its location -- an obviously illegal procedure that opens a loophole for foul play. For example, a plot of land recently bought specified the area of the property as stretching from the main road to the beach. Since its sale, the main road has been expanded and to this date the legal width of the beach in Dahab has not been specified by the government. The owner of this property who prefered anonymity explained that by virtue of these changes he now owns less than he bought. The possibility for such deception about the specific identification of properties is increased given the fact that most streets still do not have names.
Then there are the palm trees that have been historically used by local Bedouins to mark their property. Mustafa explained that unless the trees are explicitly included in the property contract, the ownership of the tree remains with the Bedouins, a practice that opens up another loophole for Bedouins to argue that the land remains theirs.
Mustafa came to Dahab 15 years ago and now has a Bedouin-style café. He also bought his land from Bedouins and while his rights to his property are not disputed, he admits he is not happy with the fact that any changes he has to make in his land have to be approved by the Bedouin who sold him the property. "The allocation contract continues to include the name of the Bedouin from whom I bought the land," he said
While the local Bedouins are villanised in many of the land conflicts in Dahab, they in fact have a host of their own complaints. After all, the land had been owned by them long before the investors reached the "undiscovered" lands of Dahab.
In Al-'Asla, the main touristic zone within Dahab, and an area heavily populated by Bedouins, many demolished structures are evident. It is around five in the afternoon and some Bedouins are returning from prayer to take their tea at 'Amm Soliman's cafe. "Now business is slow. I cannot even renovate any of my property unless I get an approval from the city council," complained Gomaa Abdallah, a Bedouin. Inhabitants claim that the City Council has been demolishing construction by the Bedouins in the area in an attempt to shake their hold on the land.
Seventy-year old Soliman Gomaa feels restricted on his own land. "I have inherited my land from my ancestors. It is my land and I cannot build anything on it," he said. "And the city council can now come and demolish any building they want."
Gomaa's neighbour argues that municipal planning should have been done before people started building their houses. "We understand the sewage system should reach all houses, and that the governorate is trying to exert effort in that, but at the same time, the way they go about it makes it difficult for everyone," said Soliman Farag.
The group was not open to questions about the accusations investors make regarding Bedouin land dealings.
The plan to develop the city is expected to upgrade certain areas within the town. One million Egyptian pounds will be dedicated to the maintenance of the roads, sewage system and water supply. The funding is also expected to cover renovation of buildings, the creation of public gardens and the naming of streets. Dahab is expected to to follow in the footsteps Sharm El-Sheikh. The city council has already arranged to build a similar road by the bay in Dahab that resembles that of Sharm El-Sheikh.
"We have also managed to correct Dahab's image; that it is a place for drugs, and other illegal issues. We have also managed to elevate the standard of the tourist; it is no more a city for backpackers," said Eissa proudly.
Whether or not the Sharmification of Dahab is a sound idea, the fact remains that this process may sweep away in its wake the lives of many men and women who came to Dahab in search of a future. And in this tug-of-war over the resort's future, the issue of land ownership remains a key battleground.
