THE PROJECT FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL AND LOCAL MONITORING SYSTEMS TO OBSERVE AND EVALUATE LAND DEVELOPMENT POLICIES IN EGYPT - Final Report - 2007. 05 KOICA <PREFACE> In Egypt, 96% of the entire territory is desert, and most of the population is concentrated in the remaining 4%. However, rapid increase in population and urban concentration have caused imbalance between demand and supply of land development. Consequently, unplanned development has been spreading rapidly in the form of informal settlements through illegal land development and farmland conversion. Recognizing this problem, the Egyptian government asked Korea, which has an experience of successfully solving similar land problems in a short period in the recent past, for assistance regarding land policy, urban planning, and policy evaluation and observation capacity. Accordingly, under the control of the Korea International Cooperation Agency, the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements launched a joint research project with the General Organization for Physical Planning (GOPP) of Egypt. The original project period was 18 months from July 2005 to January 2007 while it took a total of 20 months until March 2007; it was extended by two months with the request from the Egyptian counterpart. Throughout the research project, we endeavored to actively meet the requirements of the Egyptian government from the stage of prior investigation. The official title of the project is 'THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL AND LOCAL MONITORING SYSTEMS TO OBSERVE AND EVALUATE LAND DEVELOPMENT POLICIES IN EGYPT'. Various methods were utilized for the research including literature review, onsite investigation of the project areas in Egypt, surveys, case studies of Korea and other countries, education for the GOPP officials in Korea, and meetings and workshops in Egypt. Most of all, we put high priority on close collaboration with the Egyptian counterpart throughout the project. According to the task instructions of the project, the objectives of the project and major contents of the research can be illustrated as follows; First of all, the study presents major policy implications by comparing systems of Korea with those of Egypt. Based on this, it reviews the current status of land development, and problems and issues of the two project areas, for which a development model of existing towns, and new towns will be suggested in the study. Then, it suggests a development model of existing towns, and new towns that Korean methods of land development are applied to. At the same time, it provides directions to improving general tools for urban management such as a monitoring system using relevant urban indicators, so that this development model can Ⅰ THE PROJECT FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL AND LOCAL MONITORING SYSTEMS TO OBSERVE AND EVALUATE LAND DEVELOPMENT POLICIES IN EGYPT be applied nationwide. Major policy implications and improvements to be provided in the research project can be described as follows: First of all, the comparison of systems of Korea and Egypt shows that Egypt is required to improve its system in the three sectors of spatial planning, development permit and land development. To be specific, the spatial planning system needs restructuring so that local governments can set up plans on their own. Efforts are required to reinforce their planning capacity. In regard of development permit, the central government should provide a set of national guidelines on development permit, and at the same time, it should establish regional guidelines by considering regional specialty in order to help local governments conduct the development permit task. The land development system of Egypt is divided into existing town development and new town development. In regard of existing town development, institutional tools are required to secure financial resources required for the development, and reduce opposition following resident relocation. In this respect, existing town development should be more actively promoted by applying the land readjustment project of Korea in place of current public development. In addition, in regard of new town development, measures are required to have the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) recapture development gains and use the resources to build area-wide transportation facilities and rental housing for low-income class. Models for each of the project areas have been suggested after applying Korea's methods for existing town development and new town development that are suited for Egyptian circumstances, based on the comparison of systems of Korea and Egypt. According to the results, for existing town development, it is recommendable to adopt methods for land titles conversion and compensation, and measures to relocate residents by introducing land development methods such as land exchange and land expropriation. This is expected to practically solve problems with existing town development in Egypt. For new town development, by applying a public-led project for land preparation, and through development gains recapturing based on high-rise high density development, the study suggests solutions to a vacancy factor and housing shortage problem. Lastly, a monitoring system based on urban indicators is an essential urban management system for developing countries like Egypt in which unplanned development is severe. The monitoring system and urban indicators are estimated to be utilized as a crucial set of criteria that will assess the setting up, implementation and achievements of urban and land policies Ⅱ in the future. In this vein, the research has suggested several policy alternatives as follows: establishment of strategies for gradual operation of urban indicators taking into account urban development stages; land registration system operation, and organized data collection system construction; and integration of the concept of indicators related to unplanned development and unified urban indicator management authority operation. Ⅲ THE PROJECT FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL AND LOCAL MONITORING SYSTEMS TO OBSERVE AND EVALUATE LAND DEVELOPMENT POLICIES IN EGYPT <Summary> 1) Comparative study for urban planning and land development system between Korea and Egypt □ Comparative analysis ◦ History of land development and concept of land ownership - The direction of land policies was changed to increase private land ownership and agricultural productivity - The Korean law is close to the Continental law(absolute land ownership), while the Egyptian law is close to the Anglo-American system(relative land ownership) because of Egypt’s colonial past and subsequent moves toward Socialism. Therefore, Egypt does not recognize private land ownership as an absolute right. ◦ Political and administrative framework for urban planning and land development - The political and administrative systems in Egypt are more centralized compared to Korea’s. As a result, the dual, top-down decision-making process is commonplace in Egyptian administration for its historical antecedents. - There are many institutions and organizations involved in land development and some government agencies that play an important role in land management in Egypt, but the complex organization of the land development system creates problems of ambiguity in the roles of each organization and poor cooperation among them. - Moreover, such central organizations that have authority modify local development projects in ways that are insensitive to local development demands. - Since Egypt has a tradition of a strong presidential system, the role of the public council is also limited. The central government makes decisions on major plans, budgets, and regulations, while local governments are in charge of public finance, district plans, and enforcement of the plans. This causes inconsistency between plans and implementation. ◦ System of urban planning and development - The urban planning system in Egypt is modeled after the English Town and Country Planning, a planning system composed of a structure plan, general plan, and detailed plan. - These plans were used to pursue the development of farmland, redevelop old urban areas, develop satellite cities, and construct corridors that connect new towns and cities. Ⅳ - A strategic plan modeled after the growth management system of Western countries, integrated urban development has been set recently, but this system do not fit Egyptian urban conditions. ◦ Urban land supply system and land development methods - In Egypt, land for new development and housing is supplied by three sectors: public sector, private sector, and informal sector. - The first step in land supply by public organizations is the expropriation of land according to a development plan. After a land use plan is established, the land in the designated site is divided for sale. Local governments provide public services, such as water and sewerage, roads. - The private sector usually supplies lands in downtown or urban areas. Demolition, replacement, or change in the use of old buildings are examples of land supply by the private sector. - However, the private sector’s role in land supply is limited because subdivision of lands is strictly regulated and private companies do not have many opportunities for a major scale development project. Since the subdivision of lands is very complicated, most landlords do not observe the legally correct process. The illegal subdivision of lands is widely considered as the only reasonable choice. - Aspect of comparison analysis, The urban planning