50
Farmers in Area 77 Demand to Own Their Lands
Tens of thousands of families in Etsa villages are exposed to imprisonment and eviction out of their homes after believing the governmental promises to guarantee their right to housing.
LCHR has received complaints from tens of farmers from area 77 – Borg El Arab – Alexandria governorate. These farmers have reclaimed and area of 2000 feddans of desert lands in the Green Belt area in Borg El Arab. When the city council of Borg El Arab has announced that it will sell the agrarian lands in this area in 1994, the farmers applied to buy this land, and a committee was formed to buy the land in this are with a price of 4 thousand pounds per feddan, most of the farmers paid 20% of the land price and were committed to the contracting conditions that state that the rest of the money can be paid through installments for 10 years, the farmers have also paid for benefiting of this land since 1980, and paid for the tolls, area measurements and other procedures. In 2001, the farmers were surprised with the city council refusing to receive the land installments from them, demanding them to leave these lands and promising to provide them with alternative lands, claiming that Borg El Arab city council and the constructional societies corporation will build an amusement park on this land.
For more than 25 years, these farmers have spent a great deal of effort and money to turn this desert land into an agrarian land. When the land started to provide its outcomes to the farmers, the city council wants to seize this land under the pretense that it will build an amusement park on it, knowing that there are thousands of desert lands next to this agrarian lands that are more suitable for such a project.
Farmers claim that the city council wants to seize this land in order to distribute it on influential people and anyone who can pay the right price, feigning inattention all the efforts that these farmers have spent for over 25 years to reclaim this land.
It is noteworthy that area 77 where these farmers live, doesn't have any services, it doesn't have any electricity, drainage systems, potable water, transportation, telephones … etc. farmers have to walk 13 kilometers to fetch clean water, their children walk for tens of kilometers to reach their schools. In addition to these problems, a cement factory and a drainage station were established next to them, which make pollution surround their lands and homes from everywhere.
These farmers have spent a great deal of effort and money to reclaim this land, and they have decided to live there without any services in return of living peacefully, but the government wants to seize this land and give the farmers alternative lands to start reclaiming them also, and maybe afterwards, the government could take these lands also.
The LCHR has filed a lawsuit to cancel the decision of Borg El Arab city council and allow the farmers to own their lands. This lawsuit will be examined in a session to be held on 11/11/2006.
LCHR demands the Prime Minister, the Minister of Agriculture, the constructional societies corporation and the head of Borg El Arab city council to interfere in this matter and allow these farmers to own their lands to guarantee their rights to safe land possession, security of land tenure and enjoying a decent life.
For more information, please contact the Center.