Regularization of land title for informal communities in Cairo : an analysis and proposed approach

project initiated in 1980 to upgrade informal communities in Helwan, a suburb of Cairo, Egypt, was successful in most respects except in its efforts to provide squatters with regularized land title. Since that time, however, significant changes have been made in the country"s legal, policy, and institutional environment which may have improved the prospects for achieving this goal. These changes are described and analyzed in this report in terms of their impact on the land tenure system. Case studies of two other Egyptian land tenure projects - one in Nassiriya (the largest unplanned settlement in Aswan), the other in Ismailia - are also presented. Although the legal and institutional framework for a national land tenure program has been established, the process still faces several major constraints in the A.I.D. project areas. The Cairo Governorate"s intention to use the national tenure plan to raise revenues is at odds with the informal communities" major concern of affordability. Moreover, attempts to motivate area dwellers to pay the cost of development by legalizing land title will have a limited effect, since the infrastructure and improvements have already been constructed. Another obstacle is the lack of institutional capacity to cope with the volume of encroachment in Cairo. The final section of the report outlines a possible course of action for future upgrading programs.