This month, on 2 March, the residents of the Ras El-Hekma area were surprised by a visit from Deputy Prime Minister Kamel El-Wazir, together with the Governor of Matrouh, Major General Khaled Shoaib, and Brigadier General Hossam El-Sisi, head of the Central Administration for Financial and Administrative Affairs at the Ministry of Transport, who is tasked with negotiating with the residents, accompanied by a number of bulldozers and security forces, as some videos showed, to demolish homes in preparation for handing the land over to investors, as part of the Ras El-Hekma City real estate project, in light of the deal that Egypt concluded with the UAE in February last year. A number of residents categorically reject this, demanding fair financial compensation in return for selling their homes and adherence to the commitments that the Egyptian government made to guarantee their rights at the time the major deal was signed.
Two weeks before this incident, the minister met a number of residents of the city of Ras El-Hekma and informed them that “a wide-scale campaign will be launched as of the second day of the month of Ramadan to remove all the homes in the area”, as part of implementing the first phase of the New Ras El-Hekma City project. In response, the residents held firm in rejecting this step, relying on the law and on their right to ownership of their homes and land through registered documents and contracts. The government had indeed offered the residents compensation in exchange for acquiring their property, but it was meagre compensation, according to the residents’ assessment, amounting to EGP 300,000 per feddan and between EGP 2,000 and EGP 5,000 per residential metre in buildings and homes.
Videos circulating on social media showed clashes between the residents and security forces, as a police vehicle of the “box” type gathered, along with at least five other armoured vehicles and armoured cars, while a “loader” began demolishing one of the houses and the wall of a villa. Meanwhile, the minister was sitting inside his car with some of his aides, while a number of residents pelted the armoured cars with stones, according to what was published by the fact-checking platform “Matsda2sh”. The houses that were scheduled to be demolished, under the supervision of Lieutenant General Kamel El-Wazir, are located in the Al-Hashima area of the city of Ras El-Hekma, in Matrouh Governorate, within the land of the first phase of Ras El-Hekma, which extends over 2 square kilometres along the beach.
Zawia3 contacted a number of residents in the Ras El-Hekma area, some of whom witnessed the incident; they affirmed that they will not leave their homes and land, and explained that the government did not commit to paying the compensation agreed with the residents, and also decided to pay paltry sums compared with the actual price of the land. Mohamed, a pseudonym for one of the residents, says that the government wants to buy a feddan of land directly on the sea for EGP 150,000, while the real price exceeds EGP 1 million and more.
Islam, also a pseudonym, for a citizen of Ras El-Hekma, agrees with him; he attended several sessions between the residents and the government in the course of the discussions held over the past months to reach an agreement on selling the land to the government, the last of which was a meeting in mid-February with Deputy Prime Minister Kamel El-Wazir, during which the residents affirmed their dissatisfaction with the offers made by the government regarding compensation. Therefore, the government resorted to trying to force them to vacate their homes by force, as he puts it, stressing that 2 March witnessed a direct confrontation between security forces, the minister and a number of officials, but it did not intimidate the residents, who are still holding on to the land.
Islam stresses that the citizens want to reach a fair agreement with the government and are not being intransigent, but fair compensation must be provided to the residents who own the land under registered contracts in legal form; otherwise the crisis will turn into forcing the residents into displacement, which could provoke anger and undermine stability.
Islam says that his house was demolished about a month ago, but he has not received the value of the compensation until now, while the competent authorities are stalling in granting them their dues, which creates a state of mistrust between the residents and the government, especially given that a large number of them are holding on to their homes and doubt the usefulness of leaving them for the project, despite the government’s continuous attempts to force them to do so.
The official spokesperson for the Cabinet, Mohamed El-Homsany, said on 25 February 2025 that the total value of the Ras El-Hekma compensation that had been paid exceeds EGP 6 billion, pointing to the discussion of the implementation status of the “Shams El-Hekma” area, the site of the alternative housing for the families, in terms of implementing the utility networks, which include water and sewage, as well as the network of main and secondary roads. It was affirmed in this regard that implementation had reached very advanced rates.
Forced Eviction
The general coordinator of the Civil Democratic Movement and member of the presidential council of the Conservative Party, Talaat Khalil, says that the crisis concerns the government’s mechanism for dealing with citizens’ property and land in more than one place, as it moves to seize their homes and land and leaves them no choice but to comply and receive paltry compensation that is not commensurate with the real value of the land; therefore, what is happening is “forced displacement” even if compensation is paid to the residents, because the citizen has no alternative choice: either he confronts the government, or he leaves his home and land and settles for the compensation.
Khalil points out in his interview with us that the crisis has recurred in more than one place, among them Warraq Island, the Ring Road houses, and areas in the governorates of Port Said and Ismailia, stressing that what is happening does not fall within the framework of public benefit, as the government seizes citizens’ homes and land and grants them to a foreign investor under the pretext of development. Khalil stresses that forced displacement contradicts all the international conventions that Egypt has signed, and also contradicts Egyptian law and the Egyptian constitution, and that the government should rather have negotiated with the citizens and taken their interests into account.
Khalil says: “So far, the Ras El-Hekma project appears unclear in its features and details. We do not know: are we giving another country an entire city? We do not know the nature of the contract that was signed. Is it a joint investment? A usufruct right? Management? We do not know. We in Egypt, as citizens, have come to know nothing about the project; everything that happens is done by the method of the ‘big stick’, and the ending will never be a happy one.”
Agreeing with him is Malek Adly, human rights lawyer and director of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, who points out in an interview with Zawia3 that there is a real crisis in the government approach followed in disposing of land owned by citizens, as land occupied by Egyptian citizens is now being taken for investment purposes without regard for the rights of these citizens or reaching fair settlements with them before agreements are concluded with investors.
In his interview with us, Adly cites several examples of similar cases, such as what happened on Warraq Island and in Ras El-Hekma, explaining that there is a clear misuse of the laws on expropriation for public benefit, as these laws are employed in a way that harms citizens and leads to forcing them to leave their land in favour of investment projects, without their receiving fair compensation. He stresses that the principle of expropriation is to achieve genuine public benefit, such as building necessary infrastructure or establishing projects that serve society as a whole, and not merely to transfer ownership of land from the hands of citizens to investors to achieve economic gains.
The law on expropriation for public benefit set out a number of safeguards to guarantee citizens’ rights when real estate is expropriated: the public benefit decision is taken by a decree of the President of the Republic or whoever he delegates, provided that a detailed memorandum on the project is attached to the report, including the value of the preliminary compensation, in addition to a schematic drawing of the required properties. Compensation is assessed by a competent committee in each governorate, so that it is determined according to the prevailing prices at the time the decision is issued, with 20% added to the estimated value. The law obliges the entity requesting the expropriation to deposit the full amount of the compensation in a government bank account within three months of the issuance of the decision, and if it is late in doing so, it is obliged to pay additional compensation according to the interest rate announced by the Central Bank. After the compensation is paid out, the surplus reverts to the entity requesting the expropriation, and the law also gives owners the option of receiving the compensation in cash or in kind with their consent.
A Controversial Deal
About a year ago, Egypt concluded an agreement with the UAE to develop the Ras El-Hekma area, located on the North Coast, and turn it into a global tourist destination including luxury resorts, upscale hotels, and a financial and business centre, along with modern marinas for yachts and cruise ships, over an area estimated at about 170 million square metres. The value of the deal at the time was $35 billion, and it came at a critical time when the Egyptian economy was suffering from a suffocating financial crisis, which raised hopes that these proceeds would help ease the economic deficit.
At the time, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly described the agreement as “the largest direct investment deal in Egypt’s history”, noting that it would attract investments worth $150 billion and draw 8 million additional tourists. Despite the official welcome for the deal, it raised questions about its economic feasibility, especially since its terms were not fully announced, which brought back to Egyptians’ minds the controversy that surrounded the deal on the Tiran and Sanafir islands. On the other hand, a number of ministers and MPs defended the project as a historic step that would lead to an unprecedented flow of foreign investment, which would open new channels for attracting hard currency and help strengthen the value of the Egyptian pound and curb rising inflation.
Ras El-Hekma” is a village belonging to the city of Marsa Matrouh in Matrouh Governorate; the population of the governorate, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics in 2023, is about 538,546 citizens. The city lies on the North Coast, east of the city of Marsa Matrouh, about 85 kilometres from the governorate, and to the east it is 138 kilometres from the city of New Alamein. The “Ras El-Hekma” bay extends from the El-Dabaa area, located at kilometre 170 on the Western Coastal Road, to kilometre 220 in Matrouh. It lies about 350 kilometres (217 miles) north-west of the capital, Cairo, and covers an area of more than 180 square kilometres.
Speaking to Zawia3, Malek Adly points to unfair practices in dealing with landowners, noting that the compensation does not reflect the real value of the land. He adds that the law stipulates that fair compensation be paid according to the market price and after amicable settlements are reached, but what is happening now is an attempt to impose coercive settlements below the real value of the land, stressing that the matter is not merely a difference in price, but forcing citizens to sell against their will. He notes that in certain cases illogical compensation is proposed, such as giving a Bedouin who works in herding and fishing a housing unit inside a residential building, asking: how can a person who has lost his land, which was his source of livelihood, live in a flat? That does not compensate him for the loss of his entire way of life.
Last February, the Emirati group “Modon Holding” announced progress since October 2024 in designing the master plan for the city of “Ras El-Hekma” on Egypt’s North Coast; the holding company “ADQ”, owned by the Abu Dhabi government, had announced in the same month the appointment of “Modon Holding” as the master developer of the project. This came after “ADQ Holding” acquired the development rights to Ras El-Hekma for $24 billion, in addition to converting $11 billion of Emirati deposits held by Egypt for investment in major projects across the country, with the Egyptian government retaining a 35% stake in the project.
The lands of “Ras El-Hekma” were under the jurisdiction of the Tourism Development Authority of the Ministry of Tourism, until they were allocated to the Urban Communities Authority, the armed forces and the Ministry of Transport and Communications, under Presidential Decree No. 226 of 2023. Under the decree, a new urban community was established under the name “New Ras El-Hekma City” on an area of 40,697.59 feddans of land owned by the state as private property in the Matrouh area, designated by the symbol (A), as this area was allocated to the armed forces after being transferred from the land allocated to the New Urban Communities Authority. The decree also allocated an area of 1,499.089 feddans, designated (B), to Matrouh Governorate.
As for the armed forces, an area of 20,128.51 feddans was allocated to them, designated (C), while other areas were allocated for transport projects, including 2,421.85 feddans (D) for the route of the high-speed electric train and 111.88 feddans (E) for building the Ras El-Hekma station of the high-speed electric train, in addition to 25.47 feddans (F) for building the Ras El-Hekma station for the diesel train, for the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
Absence of Community Dialogue
Malek Adly stresses that any urban development plan must be preceded by rounds of serious community dialogue between genuine representatives of the residents and the government, instead of imposing decisions that lead to protests and clashes.
He warns that the current government measures amount to “forced eviction”, which is prohibited under international law and Egyptian law, stressing that the state cannot legally seize a citizen’s land against his will and without fair compensation that reflects the real value of his land. He explains that the basic aim of expropriation laws is to achieve public benefit, such as establishing projects for public health, combating epidemics, infrastructure or national security, and not to prepare land for investment projects aimed solely at profit.
He points out that there has been a dangerous shift in the philosophy of expropriation, as it is no longer confined to necessary cases but has come to be used arbitrarily to evict citizens in favour of investors, in the absence of any real commitment to standards of justice. He adds that expropriation laws, such as Law No. 10 of 1990, and the laws on new urban communities, are respectable laws in their texts, but the problem lies in the government itself not respecting these laws, as the procedures that guarantee citizens’ rights are not adhered to.
Adly asks why citizens do not share in the profits that the state makes from investment projects, explaining that the state owns a stake in the major projects, and it could have offered citizens a percentage of the profits of these projects in exchange for giving up their land, instead of forcing them to leave with meagre compensation. He gives the example of the Ras El-Hekma project, where the land was bought from the residents at paltry prices and then resold at fantastic prices after being developed, while the residents who were forced to leave did not receive a fair share of these profits.
He stresses that the state has the right to invest and develop, but not at the expense of citizens’ rights, calling for a reconsideration of expropriation policies, for guaranteeing fair compensation and for involving the community in the development process in an equitable manner.
Amid the escalating tension between the residents of Ras El-Hekma and the Egyptian government, the crisis remains open to multiple scenarios, between the residents’ insistence on their legal rights and their demands for fair compensation, and the government’s insistence on implementing the project according to its vision. While the authorities believe that developing the area will contribute to supporting the economy and attracting investment, the residents see their rights to land and housing as threatened by coercion rather than negotiation. With the lack of clarity about the details of the deal and the nature of the contract with the investors, the most important question remains: can a balance be struck between economic development and the preservation of citizens’ rights, or will the crisis worsen and bring back the scene of previous disputes over expropriation and investment?
