Hussien Sabbour, CEO of Al-Ahly for Real Estate Development, said the real estate sector is a means for rich people to hide their money, whether legal or not, to make profit.

In a press conference, Sabbour added that low-income housing is witnessing a low turnout due to the inability of Egypt’s youth to pay as well as high interest rates.

“Egypt is considered one of the highest countries in terms of interest rates on housing units,” Sabbour said. “The government is a bad manufacturer and a bad trader, and it has to allow private companies to work on facilitating the lands and building them.”

He noted that slums lack any engineering design or urban division standards.

For his part, Mountain View CEO Ayman Soliman said Egypt’s informal areas increased in the period the government was busy in building the Marina area near Alexandria.

Informal settlements increased as the government’s budget was directed towards developing Marina, therefore neglecting to cater for lower income housing units, he noted.