Termez state university foreign philology faculty foreign philology and literature

Informal Settlements in Alexandria
Alexandria’s population is growing fast as a result of natural increase and migration from rural areas. This is the main cause of forming squatter settlements on adjacent agricultural lands. With reference to location and demand; there is a clear shift of gravity from the old central districts Wassat, Gomrok and Gharb to the north-eastern areas of Montazah, Sharq and the south-western at Al Ameriyah parts of the city, as seen in the map resented in Fig. 1  . The city is facing big challenges; currently 37 squatter settlements exist and over one-third of the population lives with limited access to infrastructure and municipal service and inadequate shelters  . Almost all of the unplanned areas in Alexandria meet ISDF’s national standards for safety. There are just ten second grade unsafe areas and only two that are considered life threatening  . Informal Settlements can be found throughout Alexandria; some are as small as a few buildings while others are vast neighbourhoods. There are three types of unplanned areas in Alexandria, each defined by how they were developed and the land tenure that owners have.

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Fig. 1. Map of Unplanned and squatter settlements Areas in Alexandria  .
The first type is; encroachment on agricultural land. This is found along the southern edges of Montazah, Sharq, and Wassat districts. Unplanned areas are growing through subdivision of agricultural land. The owners of the land subdivide large plots and sell small lots for agricultural use. Developers then buy the land and erect one or more buildings, illegally converting it to buildings. Sometimes infrastructure and services are available on these plots, sometimes they are illegally added, and sometimes they are completely missing. Properties purchased from developers are usually under Urfi contracts. These are primary sales contracts which enable legal possession of unregistered real estate property. The lack of registration does not prevent the transfer of legal possession of the land giving the buyer the right to make use of the property. The distinction is that a registered contract denotes full ownership while an Urfi contract only allows use of the land.
The second type is; illegal settlement on public and Waqf property. Waqf is an Arabic word that refers to a voluntary and irrevocable dedication of land for charity compliant projects (such as mosques or religious schools). Developers take such land illegally and erect buildings without proper permits. Most typically these are seen near employment centres like factories or warehouse. The old custom of occupancy makes these developments possible; this means that ownership can be taken by building upon the land.
The third type is; unplanned development on Bedouin land. Land ownership in the Egyptian desert is largely unclear, a piece of land may be owned by the Governorate or a private party, or even the military, but also be occupied by the Bedouins who claim that the land has been theirs for hundreds of years therefore, they sell land to informal developers. These lands are mostly found in south-western (Al Ameriyah) parts of the city and King Marriout area  ,  .