President Abdel Fattah El Sisi of Egypt on Sunday advocated for the use of modern technology such as satellite images to spot illegal construction in the country. This call came a month after the Presidency implored the Interior Ministry to arrest anyone for unlawful structures in the North African country.

The new directive came at a meeting with the Prime Minister, Mustafa Madbouli, and the Chief of Armed Forces’ Engineering Authority, Ehab Al-Faar. El Sisi’s instructions included establishing an accurate and up-to-date database for monitoring. The directive necessitates instant action from the ministries involved. The Presidential Spokesperson, Bassam Radi, corroborated this in a statement. 

President El Sisi has also reviewed the modus of giving construction permits as a part of actions to reduce illegal constructions. During the meeting, he also discussed some national projects executed by the Armed Forces’ Engineering Authority, including road projects in the capital city of Cairo.

In another meeting with Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker and Water Resources Minister Mohamed Abdel Aaty, El Sisi implored the administrators to bolster efforts towards expanding land reclamation as a strategic attitude and setting a timeline in this regard, while also urging for the provision of electricity and water treatment services to support this plan.

The President had in April ordered for the increment of arable area in Sinai, in a statement shared by the Prime Minister. With the completion of Egypt’s largest wastewater treatment plant of Bahr al-Baqar, and the Mahsamh Wastewater Treatment plant in Ismailia, the government will soon start reclaiming new land in Sinai the prime minister added.

Prime Minister Madbouli asked the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture to prepare A study on the arable lands in the area, according to his statement. On April 9, 2020, Sisi directed the government to expand the reclamation of arable lands nationwide to grow strategic crops. As a mitigation effort, Egypt is now building the sewage water treatment plant to face water shortage that could affect around 0.5 million people in Sinai. The plant, which will treat sewage and agricultural wastewater of the most extended drain (Bahr al-Baqar 1 drain), located in the east of Suez Canal. It will produce 5 million cubic meters per day to cultivate 250,000 feddans.