The owners of Lotus Village on Egypt’s North Coast face mounting risks driven by the continuous dredging of beaches in favor of certain projects, a process that has brought the water closer to residential units and eroded a large portion of the shoreline, in what is scientifically known as coastal erosion. This has pushed them to file numerous reports and complaints with judicial authorities and the Cabinet, but to no avail so far.
Lotus Village lies roughly 230 kilometers from Cairo, spans an area of 150 feddans, and comprises nearly 200 residential units ranging from chalets and villas to studios, in addition to a sandy beach extending about 600 meters that was once among its most prominent tourist attractions.
The residents who spoke to Zawia3 complain of the accelerating coastal erosion and the wearing away of parts of the beach, which has brought seawater closer to some residential units. They link these developments to works carried out under a beach-protection project that was accompanied by the loss of quantities of natural sand.
Zawia3 obtained official documents, including judicial seizure reports and inspections issued by competent bodies such as the Public Prosecution, the Shore Protection Authority, the Matrouh Security Directorate, and the Matrouh Court of First Instance, revealing violations related to the dredging and transport of quantities of sand from the beach within the village’s boundaries, in areas classified as part of the shore reserve and environmental no-go zones, in addition to testimonies from ten owners.
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Engineering Violations That Caused the “Sea Erosion”
According to the documents, the dredging works led to a retreat in parts of the beach’s sandy strip, along with the seawater advancing closer to land in some locations within the village, something experts link to coastal erosion, scientifically defined as the gradual erosion of the shoreline resulting from a loss of balance between natural sediment and the movement of waves and marine currents, whether due to natural factors or human intervention in the coastal system.
The owners’ testimonies, as well as the documents, indicate that the dredging and transport of sand from the beach took place during the implementation of the stone-groynes project, originally intended to protect the beaches. The project was carried out by El-Sisi Group for Contracting in cooperation with the head of the owners’ union, a company that describes itself as specializing in contracting works, including marine, river, and metal works, as well as interior design.
The company’s profile on its official website states that it has executed a number of projects in shore protection, marine construction, and infrastructure for various entities, including the Armed Forces Engineering Authority, the Egyptian General Authority for Shore Protection, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, the Middle East Oil Refinery (MIDOR), the Marina El-Alamein Tourist Villages Authority, and the Arab Contractors Company, among others.
Regarding the stone-groynes project under investigation, the documents and submitted reports point to accusations of technical violations in implementation, in terms of compliance with engineering specifications, the quantities of materials used, and the method of execution at sea, which the complainants consider part of a series of breaches connected to the coastal-protection works within the village, and which remain under examination before the competent judicial and technical authorities.
Stone groynes are one of the methods used to protect beaches, usually built as tongues extending perpendicularly from the shoreline into the sea, constructed from rocks or heavy concrete blocks, and designed according to precise studies to regulate the movement of marine currents and reduce the impact of waves on sandy beaches, with the aim of curbing coastal erosion, allowing naturally transported sand to settle, and stabilizing the shoreline.
Official Accusations
An official report numbered 778 of 2024, Marina Misdemeanors, drawn up by one of the judicial seizure engineers at the Egyptian General Authority for Shore Protection on 10 October 2024, of which Zawia3 obtained a copy, disclosed technical and environmental violations in the village’s stone-groynes project, originally intended to protect the beach from coastal erosion.
According to the documents, the accusations targeted the head of the village occupants’ union, Mohamed Abu Shadi, and the executing contractor, Abdel-Aziz Mohamed El-Sisi, chairman of El-Sisi Group for Contracting, who were said to have carried out the works in breach of the technical specifications and the bill of conditions, adversely affecting the project’s efficiency and its ability to perform its function of protecting the beach.
The documents also point to a discrepancy between the approved engineering designs and the works actually executed on the ground, as the latter involved reducing the lengths and depths of the stone barriers within the sea, thereby cutting the quantities of materials used, dolomite stones and the sand allocated for beach-nourishment works.
This is in addition to the use of building materials that breached specifications, including ordinary cement instead of the salt- and sulfate-resistant cement designated for marine works, as well as casting concrete blocks at weights below the design weight, which the complainants considered a cause of their weak resistance to waves and the displacement of some of them. The papers also include accusations of using low-density sand in beach-nourishment works instead of the white marine sand technically prescribed.
In contrast, the Marina Misdemeanors Court, in Case No. 3703 of 2025, El-Alamein Appeals Misdemeanors, issued a ruling acquitting the defendants, before the Public Prosecution appealed the verdict. The court also issued a decision to appoint an engineering expert to inspect the site in person and determine whether the stone-groynes works required dredging the sand, the extent of their conformity with technical and environmental standards, and the quantities of sand transported and how they were disposed of, leaving the case pending before the courts without a final ruling so far. The case file was referred to the Ministry of Justice’s experts’ office in Alexandria to prepare a technical report on the extent to which the executed works conform to the engineering specifications.
According to the judicial seizure reports and the Public Prosecution’s inspections, the works covered the western frontage of the village over a length of about 600 meters and a width reaching nearly 80 meters, with the removal of a layer of sand at a depth ranging between 40 and 45 centimeters in some locations. The reports estimated the affected quantity of sand at about 21,600 cubic meters of white beach sand, with an estimated value of around 10,800,000 Egyptian pounds ($207,692.31).
The documents also reveal that the Lotus Village occupants’ union awarded the project to build four stone groynes, along with sand-nourishment works at the village site, to El-Sisi Group for Contracting, with the assignment order issued on 6 March 2024 at a total value of about 32,900,000 Egyptian pounds ($632,692.31). It is the project that the shore-protection seizure report confirmed to be in breach of standards, as the two parties signed an undertaking to remove the concrete blocks and restore the beach to its natural state, which, according to the owners’ testimonies, has not happened to date.
In this context, Bassem El-Sayed, one of the owners, explains that the tender for the stone groynes, which was supervised by the head of the owners’ union, was awarded to a contractor at a value of about 33 million Egyptian pounds ($634,615.38), yet the executed works did not adhere to the technical specifications set out in the bill of conditions, whether in terms of lengths, depths, or the quality of materials used.
He adds that the design called for the stone groynes to be built to specific dimensions within the sea, but the implementation saw a reduction in those dimensions, which in turn lowered the quantities of sand and dolomite used, and reduced the actual cost of the project compared with what was stated in the contract. He also points to discrepancies between the approved technical specifications and what was actually executed, alleging that the real value of the executed works does not match the size of the sums that were disbursed.
The owner points to a shortfall in the number of concrete blocks used to protect the beach compared with the contracted quantities, alongside the use of “yellow” sand that differs in specification from that prescribed for beach-nourishment works, something he believes caused it to erode quickly under the action of the waves.
The owners filed complaints with the Cabinet, the most recent submitted on 20 April, in addition to filing reports and drawing up records, some of which reached the Public Prosecution, stating that the project’s implementation was linked to the dredging and transport of sand from an area classified among the beach no-go zones within the village, along with accusations that the executed works did not conform to the technical specifications.
Bassem El-Sayed says that the village’s previous boards of management since 1989 were not perfect, but they worked within available means without burdening the owners with additional financial costs.
Asked about the beach-protection works, he explains that during the implementation of the stone-groynes project he witnessed the removal of large quantities of sand from the beach, part of which was used in landfill works within the sea, while other quantities disappeared under circumstances he describes as unclear.
He told Zawia3: “I did not hear about the matter from anyone, I saw it with my own eyes. Huge quantities of sand were removed from the beach, then heavy-transport trucks began moving inside the village late at night or after the Maghrib prayer, and this continued through the start of the summer season.”
He adds that the trucks’ movement coincided with the disappearance of part of the sand that had been piled at the project site, raising the suspicions of a number of owners about the fate of these quantities and whether they had been transported or used outside the declared scope of the project’s works.
He also points to drowning incidents the village has witnessed, among them an incident last summer, explaining that a 13-year-old child was swept away by the waves near the beach before one of the rescuers managed to pull him out, while the rescuer himself was injured during the rescue and was taken for treatment. El-Sayed believes the protective measures that should be provided around these structures are incomplete, and notes that some concrete blocks shift with the force of the waves because they were not anchored according to the required technical standards.
In the same vein, one of Lotus Village’s owners, who preferred not to be named, expresses concern over the deterioration of the beach’s condition within the village, pointing to problems related to the wave barrier and its effect on the stability of the sand and the safety of use.
He told Zawia3 that the wave barrier built nearly two years ago was not completed as required, adding that there are ongoing legal proceedings concerning what he described as the loss or disappearance of the sand. He also notes that during the summer and high waves, the beach sees pools of water forming in its middle that turn into ponds obstructing normal use of the place, alongside the continued erosion of the sand despite attempts to refill it with yellow sand, which the waves pull away once more.
He adds that the change in the nature of the marine currents in the area has led to the emergence of whirlpools, noting that a number of rescue cases were recorded last year compared with a smaller number in previous years, something he considered an indicator of increased risk along the beach. He also explains that some of the stone groynes placed as part of the shore-protection project are unstable and have shifted within the water, compared with similar projects in other villages carried out by the same entity that appear more stable and orderly, which he considered a flaw in the design or execution of the barrier that calls for technical review.
The owner concludes by stressing that the owners paid large sums for the project, yet the current results do not reflect the expected level of service, calling for urgent technical intervention to assess the situation and remedy the shortcomings.
For her part, Dr. Gihan El-Nemrasy, one of the owners of Lotus Village, confirms what the owners have reported about the deterioration of the beach’s condition within the village, whether in relation to the placement of the stone groynes, the erosion of the sand, or the level of the seawater, noting that these matters have greatly affected the quality and safety of the beach.
She adds to Zawia3 that this situation cannot be separated from what she described as a general state of deterioration the village has been experiencing recently, explaining that this appears in the water cut-offs under the pretext of building a station on the beach, with residents asked to pay additional sums, alongside a decline in the level of security and recurring theft incidents, with no effective solutions despite the filing of numerous reports and complaints.
She also points to unregulated urban changes within the village, manifested in the modification of some residential units and the addition of floors in violation of regulations, without clear oversight or accountability, according to her.
In the same context, the owners filed an official complaint with the Tax-Evasion Combating Department in Alexandria, registered under incoming number 4805 on 23 September 2025, that included documents assigning a construction operation valued at more than 32 million Egyptian pounds ($615,384.62), exposing the union head’s collusion in helping the contractor evade the tax system by disbursing financial settlements without electronic invoices, in addition to a demand that he be held tax-accountable for the incident of dredging and stealing the beach sand, valued at 10,800,000 Egyptian pounds ($207,692.31). In parallel, on the insurance front, the owners filed collective complaints on 16 July 2025 with the National Social Insurance Authority and other sovereign bodies, stating that the union’s management deliberately helped the contractor evade paying the social insurance due on the operation and subscribing to it, complaints that resulted in the Authority moving by force of law and obliging the company to pay forfeited dues amounting to 1,350,000 Egyptian pounds ($25,961.54).
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Is Returning the Sand Worthwhile?
In this context, lawyer Ahmed El-Saidi, who specializes in environmental cases, holds that addressing the crisis of coastal erosion and beach landfill should not be confined to the measures of the Shore Protection Authority, but requires the involvement of all competent bodies, chief among them the Environmental Affairs Agency, as the body responsible for protecting the marine environment and its components.
Speaking to Zawia3, El-Saidi cast doubt on the usefulness of merely returning the sand to its place, questioning the nature of the works carried out and whether they actually restored the environmental situation to what it was, saying: “If they say they restored things as they were, then what was the scale of the damage that occurred? And was the opinion of the Environmental Affairs Agency taken, as the body competent over the marine environment?”
El-Saidi explains that shore protection in Egypt falls under overlapping jurisdictions among more than one government body. While the Shore Protection Authority and the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation handle aspects related to the shoreline, the Environmental Affairs Agency is responsible for protecting the marine environment and the living organisms connected to it, whereas the Ministry of Health monitors water quality from a health standpoint. He believes the absence of coordination among these bodies weakens the oversight system and leaves room for practices that may adversely affect the beach and the marine environment.
As for the judicial proceedings, he notes that the court referred the dispute to a panel of experts to conduct a technical inspection and prepare a report on the facts of the case, considering that the participation of the Environmental Affairs Agency at this stage is a technical and legal necessity to ensure a comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts.
El-Saidi holds that the use of beaches must take place in a way that does not disturb the environmental balance, pointing out that any intervention in the shoreline or the marine environment should comply with the conditions stipulated in the Environment Law and the Water Resources and Irrigation Law, and that breaching these controls may lead to long-term effects that are difficult to remedy.
He considers that the environmental damage resulting from ill-considered interventions in beaches may extend to future generations, citing cases that saw major changes in the nature of coastlines as a result of projects not carried out in accordance with the required environmental studies, which underscores the importance of adhering to environmental-impact assessment before executing any works on the coastal strip.
In this context, El-Saidi condemns the disregard for environmental-impact assessment studies before establishing any projects near the beach, and the failure to prepare them or have them approved by the competent bodies in accordance with the governing legal requirements, stressing that ignoring this assessment, as happened in Lotus Village, may constitute a breach of the environmental legislation regulating shore protection, foremost among them Law No. 102 of 1983 on Nature Reserves and the Protection of Coastal Areas, and the Environment Law No. 4 of 1994 and its amendments, which criminalizes harming the marine environment or altering its natural characteristics without obtaining the necessary environmental permits or conducting environmental-impact assessment studies.
The lawyer specializing in environmental matters adds that, according to what is stated in the complaints, the suspicions extend to a breach of the law regulating shore-protection works under the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, which sets strict conditions for any landfill works, the construction of barriers, or any modification of the shoreline, including obtaining prior technical approvals from the competent bodies. He stresses that the multiplicity of technical laws may make reliance on experts’ reports an essential element in forming the court’s conviction regarding the technical facts before it.
He affirms that respecting environmental conditions is not a mere formality, but rather a fundamental safeguard for preserving beaches and natural resources, and for preventing the worsening of phenomena such as coastal erosion and environmental degradation, which may take long years and substantial financial cost to address.
Altering the Shoreline Lies Behind the Worsening of Beach Erosion in the Mediterranean
Recent scientific studies indicate that sandy beaches around the world face an accelerating retreat as a result of the interplay between climate-change factors and human intervention in coastal systems, explaining that erosion processes could lead to the loss of tens of thousands of kilometers of coastline over the coming decades, with estimates pointing to the possibility of a wide retreat in beaches reaching significant proportions by the end of the century.
The research warns that this type of erosion is not limited to the loss of sand, but its impact extends to threatening coastal ecosystems and weakening the buffer zones that protect seafront urban communities from floods and storms, in addition to its economic repercussions on areas dependent on coastal tourism. It also notes that ill-considered engineering interventions, such as building marine barriers or altering shorelines, may in some cases worsen the erosion phenomenon rather than curb it, by changing the movement of marine currents and preventing the natural redistribution of sediment, which makes coastal management under climate change a complex challenge requiring long-term solutions based on a balance between environmental protection and coastal development.
In this regard, Dr. Mahmoud Hanafy, professor of marine science, says the phenomenon of beach erosion in the Mediterranean is linked to several interlocking natural and human factors, explaining that one of the most important historical causes is the cessation of the sediment that the Nile used to carry to the sea.
He explains to Zawia3 that during flood periods the Nile used to carry between 120,000 and 140,000 tons of sand and silt annually to the Mediterranean, which helped deposit large quantities of material on the beaches and thereby support their natural stability and build up the shoreline.
He adds that the construction of the High Dam and the cessation of these sediment flows disrupted the natural balance between what reaches the beaches in sediment and what they lose to waves and marine currents, which contributed to increased rates of beach erosion, especially in areas of northern Egypt such as Rosetta and Damietta.
He notes that the state resorts to large investments in shore-protection projects, such as building rock barriers and concrete blocks to limit the impact of waves and prevent the erosion of the shoreline, explaining that among the most prominent influencing factors is also the alteration of the shoreline due to the construction of ports, marinas, and marine tongues extending into the sea, projects intended to protect certain areas but which may produce adverse results on neighboring areas by changing the movement of marine currents.
The professor of marine science says that moving sand from one beach to another, or building marine structures without sufficient study of their effect on water movement, is among the factors that cause disturbance in the coastal system, as it leads to the concentration of erosion in specific areas against deposition in others. He warns that these changes become more complex with climate change, the intensifying severity of storms, and rising sea levels, which increases the pressure on the coastal strip in the Mediterranean, especially in the northwestern regions of Egypt.
He affirms that urban expansion and development on the North Coast must take these variables into account, warning that disturbing the coastal environmental balance may lead to long-term effects on structures and infrastructure, including the risks of salinization and its impact on soil and foundations. He stresses that traditional solutions such as beach nourishment with sand may not be sufficient in the long term if they are not implemented within a comprehensive vision for coastal management, noting that preserving the natural shoreline without ill-considered interventions represents the greatest challenge at present.
The case remains under consideration before the courts and has not been finally adjudicated to date, while Lotus Village remains an example of the fragility of the dividing line between coastal-protection projects and the risks of harming the marine environment when they are not carried out according to scientific and legal controls. Building mega-projects on beaches without precise controls may lead to results whose effects extend to the stability of the shoreline itself, worsening the phenomena of erosion and coastal retreat rather than curbing them, and making the cost of remediation later, if that is even possible, higher and more complex than prevention.
