Egypt has intensified efforts to remove illegal encroachments along the Nile as part of a national project aimed at protecting the river’s hydraulic capacity, strengthening state control over the waterway and its adjacent lands, and improving river management, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said.
Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Hani Sewilam reviewed a progress report on the National Project for Regulating the Nile and Its Two Branches, which includes measures to remove encroachments and improve the management of state-owned land along the river.
According to the report, authorities removed 37 encroachments in the Manial Shiha area that conflicted with the planned route of an eight-kilometre section of the Ahl Masr Nile promenade.
The removal campaign was carried out in coordination with the committee responsible for addressing encroachments along the Shubra–Helwan stretch of the Nile, the Armed Forces Land Projects Agency, security authorities, and Giza Governorate.
The ministry also reported that authorities have removed 518 cases of illegal construction along the Rosetta branch of the Nile as part of the ongoing campaign.
Sewilam stressed that the ministry will continue monitoring the Nile channel and adjacent river lands and will take immediate legal action against any new encroachments.
He also instructed ministry officials to closely monitor the implementation of Nile promenade projects to ensure that executing agencies adhere to the ministry’s approved engineering designs and that construction activities do not adversely affect the river’s hydraulic capacity or water flow.
The National Project for Regulating the Nile and Its Two Branches aims to restore the river’s capacity to accommodate changing water flows and climate-related pressures, eliminate illegal encroachments, and strengthen state oversight of the Nile channel.
The project also seeks to improve the management of riverbank lands, define regulatory boundaries and protected zones, and develop a more accurate database of the Nile’s riverbed and banks, including the Rosetta and Damietta branches.
