Ministry of Housing, Utilities & Urban Communities

Arab Republic of Egypt
Ministry of Housing, Utilities & Urban Communities
وزارة الاسكان والمرافق والمجتمعات العمرانية
Emblem of Egypt
Agency overview
JurisdictionGovernment of Egypt
HeadquartersNew Administrative Capital, Cairo
Agency executive
WebsiteOfficial website
The main headquarters of the Ministry

Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities (MoHUUC) is responsible for addressing Egypt's housing issues, with a mandate to provide public housing, drinking water and wastewater treatment utilities, and the planning and subdivision of new urban communities. It is headquartered in Cairo since its inception in 1961, and administers the nation's largest real estate developer, the New Urban Communities Authority, and the largest contractor, the Arab Contractors.

History

1950-1961

As the government started taking a serious interest in public housing in the later 1940s, on 17 August, 1950, the first official office for housing, the Department of Popular Homes (Idarat al-masakin al-sha'biya), was established within the Ministry of Social Affairs.[1] When public housing production expanded in the 1950s, it was renamed as the Department of Housing and moved to the Ministry of Municipal and Village Affairs.[2] It was only in 1961, after a large scale restructuring of government offices, was the Ministry of Housing and Utilities established as an independent office.[3]

1974-1980

In the wake of the 1973 October War, efforts to rebuild the Suez Canal cities were put in motion by establishing the Ministry of Reconstruction (wizarat al-ta'mir),[4] in parallel to the Ministry of Housing and Utilities. However, they would be merged within months to become the Ministry of Housing and Reconstruction.

With the expansion of official policy in establishing new communities all over Egypt, and not just the canal region, a Ministry of Reconstruction and New communities was spun off in 1978,[5] in addition to a Ministry of State for Housing, as well as keeping the Ministry of Housing, though the Ministry of State was scrapped within a year.[6] In 1979, the New Urban Communities Authority, or NUCA, was established as a state owned enterprise to implement these activities and its chairman is appointed by the president.[7] NUCA was originally affiliated to the cabinet, and its board included the ministers of economics, finance, housing and reconstruction, electricity, irrigation, land reclamation, and industry and natural resources.[8]

In 1980, with the devolution of public housing to the local administration, and expansion in desert agriculture, the cabinet level office was restructured as the Ministry of Reconstruction, State for Housing, and Land Reclamation.[6][9]

1996- Present

In 1996, the office was restructured yet again, and the two ministries merged into the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, while its roles were defined as:[10]

  • Oversee town and village planning, and housing projects in accordance with the policies of the state
  • Plan and implement public utility (water and wastewater) projects
  • Prepare comprehensive regional plans, prioritizing economic and social benefits to the Egyptian people
  • Work in the development of new cities and villages

This set up has remained much the same since, with the exception of a brief renaming as the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development, and then a three year split into the Ministry of Housing and Urban Communities and the Ministry of Utilities responsible for the water and wastewater portfolio. Though on the 19 of September 2015, they were again merged into the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities. [11][12]

Ministers

Affiliate Organisations

Housing Agencies

Real Estate and Construction

Utilities

Think Tanks and Oversight Bodies

See also

References

  1. ^ "Marsum (Royal decree) of August 17, 1950". The Official Gazette. Cairo. 1950.
  2. ^ "Law 188/1955". The Official Gazette. Cairo. 1955.
  3. ^ "Presidential Decree 1356/1961". The Official Gazette. Cairo. 1961.
  4. ^ "Presidential Decree 5/1974". The Official Gazette. Cairo. 1974-01-07.
  5. ^ "Presidential Decree 275/1978". The Official Gazette. Cairo. 1978-07-13.
  6. ^ a b Mahmoud, Nagwa (1993). Siyasat al-iskan: Dirasat hala 1974-1986 (in Arabic). Kuwait: Dar Suad al-Sabbah. pp. 167–174.
  7. ^ "Law 59/1979". The Official Gazette. Cairo. 1979-11-29.
  8. ^ "Presidential Decree 351/1980". The Official Gazette. Cairo. 1980-07-17.
  9. ^ "Presidential Decree 208/1980". The Official Gazette. 1980.
  10. ^ "Presidential Decree 164/ 1996". The Official Gazette. 1996.
  11. ^ "Egypt's new Cabinet: What changed and what didn't?". Mada Masr. September 19, 2015.
  12. ^ "Ministry of Housing & Urban Communities". Ministry of Housing & Urban Communities. Archived from the original on 18 August 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  13. ^ "Presidential Decree 780/1971". The Official Gazette. 1971.
  14. ^ "Presidential Decree 1685/1970". The Official Gazette. 1970.
  15. ^ "Presidential Decree 1301/1964". The Official Gazette. 1964.
  16. ^ "Estimating the Size of Public Sector Real Estate in Egypt". Built Environment Observatory. 2023-04-18. Retrieved 2024-01-18.