Madbouly takes hard line on wildcat building after El Sisi’s warnings: Illegal builders have until the end of September to settle building code violations or see their buildings demolished, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly warned, stressing in a statement that the deadline is non-negotiable. Governorates will be getting new powers to monitor and report violations to a central administration, and police forces will be called on to secure the demolition of unsettled buildings, the PM added. The government will also show no tolerance when it comes to building over agricultural land, which it considers a “matter of life and death,” Madbouly said. Madbouly’s comments came after President Abdel Fattah El Sisi last week threatened to deploy the army to crack down on those who build without permits or flagrantly violate construction code.

Progress in clearing violations: The Local Development Ministry said it has addressed 11k cases of construction violations in its 16th stage of reclamations (which ends with the 15 September deadline), recovering 2.9 mn square meters of state property and 211k feddans on agricultural lands, in a statement on Monday. It has cleared 16k contracts to proceed with construction, collecting EGP 4.4 bn, and received another 769k settlement requests, collecting a further EGP 4.6 bn.

Background: The government recently extended until mid-September a deadline to settle building code violations in an effort to tackle the long-standing issue. The fees would be submitted alongside settlement applications, and deducted from the overall charges if the applications are accepted. Under executive regulations to a recent law, settlements can be processed no later than the end of September. Demolition procedures would commence right away for rejected applications.