Egypt Deserves the World Habitat Day Award

Dr. Bahaa Helmy Writes:

Egypt deserves the Habitat Scroll of Honour of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, which was established in 1989; this scroll is the most important award for human settlements in the world.

The word habitat means refuge, sanctuary, shelter: the decent and adequate housing that must be provided to the population, especially to those who live in unfit housing conditions, such as the poor, the homeless, the marginalized and the residents of informal settlements in various societies.

Housing is a human right; that is why the United Nations designated the Monday of the first week of October each year as World Habitat Day, to draw attention to the responsibility for providing every human being with adequate shelter equipped with services and means of protection and care.

The organization explained that the COVID-19 crisis revealed an important truth, namely that a home is much more than just a roof for us to feel safe and be able to go on living, working and learning; rather, the home must be safe, allowing access to basic services and the infrastructure for hygiene measures, and providing sufficient space for physical distancing.

Access to clean water and sanitation services, respecting social distancing and staying at home are among the necessary preventive health measures, and among the most important measures taken to confront the coronavirus pandemic.

The truth is that these measures are difficult to implement in poor neighbourhoods that lack the basic services mentioned above, which leads to the risk of the infection spreading not only within those neighbourhoods but across entire cities, in addition to the resulting spread of various diseases and epidemics among the residents of those neighbourhoods.

Accordingly, the United Nations announced the slogan Housing For All: A Better Urban Future “as the theme for the celebration of World Habitat Day 2020”.

This is to stress that the provision of adequate, inclusive and affordable housing is the key to the sustainable transformation of our cities and communities, and that housing is the foundation of people’s health, dignity, safety, well-being and inclusion.

The insistence of the political leadership on moving the residents of dangerous informal settlements to new residential communities that provide dignity, well-being, safety, health and inclusion, and pave the way for social and economic integration.

Is unprecedented locally or regionally, and the creation of new integrated residential communities on the land of Egypt is a unique model at the international level.

The keenness of the political leadership to coordinate cooperation between the government and civil society organizations, represented by some NGOs working in the fields of social welfare, in order to build and equip fully furnished housing units for the residents of informal settlements and hand them over to them in place of the sites and structures in which they used to live.

Is the best evidence of Egypt’s excellence in providing housing projects for the neediest citizens; the new projects are distinguished by their wonderful aesthetic appearance, housing units that meet the aspirations of the residents, as well as areas of gardens and open spaces, services and content.

It is acknowledged that the residential communities and neighbourhoods that have been built and handed over to the residents were designed in an aesthetic and upscale manner comparable to the upscale neighbourhoods (if the expression is permissible).

We have previously written about the Al-Asmarat project in its three phases, which is a wonderful oasis for the residents and the surrounding area, whether in form, content or quality of services, which makes it a foundation for the neighbourhoods and cities of the future.

The creation of new neighbourhoods and residential communities in this upscale manner that meets all the needs of the various segments, and the government’s drawing up of action plans for implementation, follow-up and maintenance with the aim of raising the standard of the residents, especially the residents of informal settlements, together with the construction of new housing, places Egypt in a position that deserves the World Habitat Day award.