President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had tasked the government to step up legal procedures required to oblige businessmen who illegally obtained state-owned lands to full pay for it, a senior government official told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
The official said the directives involve fines for other estate owners who changed the zoning of property from agriculture to tourism or housing without state authorization.
Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb tasked the Commission on Legislative Reform, chaired by Mehleb upon a national resolution, to study legal amendments to issue strict penalties against violators in case of refusal to pay for the land, whose zoning they have illegally changed, said the official.
Mehleb ordered these amendments as swift as possible, as a prelude to begin prosecution against the violators, he added.
The official pointed out that the commission is studying the shortcomings of the current laws as well as the contracts signed between businessmen and the government upon which they obtained the lands.
A government report showed that the value of properties where the zoning has been illegally changed by its owners has reached over LE100 billion, said the official.
The confrontation will begin with the owners of lands that the official defined as the largest. According to him, those land owners would be informed with a due date to pay the price difference, and in the case of rejection, they would be referred to prosecution as a message that the law would apply to everyone.
The government official also clarified that the state differentiates between serious investment that leads to providing job opportunities, and the seizure of state lands.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
