The Ismailia Development Projects of Hai El Salaam and Abu Atwa were the first self-financing ‘sites and services’, and urban settlement upgrading projects to be successfully implemented in Egypt. By 1986, these projects had enabled over 100,000 low-income people, one third of Ismailia’s population, to gain access to land with secure tenure and basic and affordable levels of infrastructure provision. The projects have adopted a new approach to housing provision that seeks to maximise the vitality of the informal sector rather than rely on state provision. They also recognise the value of integrating economic, cultural and social services alongside housing. Costs were kept to a minimum to ensure widespread accessibility.

Partnership

National government, local government , donor agency, academic/research