Al-Sisi Hands Over Al-Nouzha Airport to the UAE in Return for ‘Coup Expenses’
On June 4, 2021, the residents of Ezbet Nady El-Seid in the Alexandria Governorate, northern Egypt, protested against the government’s decision to forcibly evict them from their homes; In preparation for the annexation of their land to an investment area that includes the lands of "Nouzha Airport", "Downtown" and the area "behind Carrefour", to be sold to the Emirates.
However, the security forces responded violently and fired tear gas, and dozens were arrested, on charges of “demonstrating, gathering, incitement, and throwing stones at the security forces.”
Displacement began when the regime’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, announced at a youth conference in Ismailia in April 2017, that Nozha Airport would not open its doors, despite its development and renovation of its corridors and buildings with 320 million pounds (one pound is equivalent to 15.70), according to the Minister of Aviation, Mohamed Manar.
The anger of the people of Alexandria increased, following news of the sale of the old Nouzha Airport area and its surrounding residential areas, some of which are random, such as the "Nady El Seid", to an Emirati investor.
The people confirmed through social media that the residents of the area will be evicted and moved to other government housing, at a rent of 300 pounds per month, despite their ownership of the land.
The goal of the displacement is to sell the airport land and its environs in one deal, and to build an "architectural investment project" recommended by Sisi, according to the Minister of Aviation's confirmation on June 21, 2020.
Ezbet Nady El Seid is located in the middle between the "Down Town", which was recently evacuated from its residents, and the Nouzha Airport area.
The three areas, in addition to the Ezbet Al Matar area, had previously been announced by the Minister of Housing, Assem Al-Jazzar, in his speech to El-Sisi about the development of Alexandria on May 25, 2020, allocating it to investors as a business area sold to businessmen.
The British occupation (1882-1922) built the foundations of the airport, but its construction was completed during the reign of King Farouk, and it continued to operate under subsequent regulations until January 2012 when the Ministry of Aviation closed it for its development.
It was planned to open in April 2017, but it remained closed for "sovereign" reasons up to now. El-Sisi made his decision to sell the airport and the lands around it.
Corruption Deal
On March 31, 2017, the deputy editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram newspaper, Hisham Abdel Aziz, wrote an article titled "The Enigma of Nouzha Airport in front of the President!" He reveals the corruption that took place in this file, and calls on Sisi to intervene.
After nearly one month, Sisi intervened to announce at the youth conference in Ismailia on April 27, 2017, the suspension of the airport operation and the study of the fate of the land, which raised suspicions concerning selling the land to the Emirates to cover the coup expenses."
El-Sisi said: "Honestly, we will not be able to use this airport for reasons that I cannot be able to mention!! Excuse me" Then he addressed a number of officials, led by the then Minister of Housing, Mostafa Madbouly, saying: Please take the decision for the lands that will be allocated, so that we can benefit from 50 million meters! .
Despite the high costs of developing the airport, and following Sisi's statements, former Minister of Aviation Sherif Fathi said that the operation of the airport is in the hands of "sovereign parties", and that "the file of Nouzha Airport is in the Presidency of the Republic to determine its fate."
Aviation affairs specialist, Hisham Abdel Aziz, indicated in press statements that "the airport's land is covered by some businessmen."
He spoke of "rumors of offers and interventions by some businessmen to buy the airport land, to establish an entertainment city and commercial malls, especially since the airport land is in the heart of the Mediterranean bride."
Abdel Aziz pointed out that "the Ministry of Civil Aviation pumped 320 million pounds to renovate and modernize buildings, provide them with the latest devices and solar energy, and increase the space to accommodate one million passengers instead of 300,000, to relieve pressure on Burj El Arab Airport." He revealed that "there was a problem related to the airport runway due to the accumulation of groundwater, given that the nature of the airport's land is lower than sea level, but the armed forces intervened and solved this problem."
Abdel Aziz was surprised by the emergence of new arguments and objections "suddenly raised" about the existence of technical and security obstacles that prevent the opening of the airport.
He wondered: "Why was the renewal and the injection of those funds then, especially since there were technical, security and control committees from various parties that participated in the evaluation and agreed to the renewal?!"
This prompted lawyers Mohamed Abdel Rahman and Ahmed Sabry Abu Alam to file a complaint with the First Public Prosecutor of Alexandria’s Prosecutions against the Prime Minister, the Minister of Aviation, the Governor of Alexandria, and others on June 1, 2017, on charges of wasting 300 million pounds and selling Nouzha Airport, “ no one knows what will happen to the airport."
El-Sisi continued to aplly what was in his plans , selling the airport land and its surroundings and passing an amendment to the provisions of the Civil Aviation Law, which was approved by his parliament on January 28, 2018.
The amendment aimed to "regulate the procedures for offering Egyptian airport lands and buildings for sale to private sector companies!"
The legislative amendment stipulated “the termination of the privatization of airports, their buildings and facilities, or part of them, by a decision issued by the Prime Minister after the approval of the Council of Ministers.”
However, former MP Haitham Al-Hariri criticized this law on Twitter at the time. He was surprised to end the allocation and sale of Nouzha Airport in Alexandria, after spending 550 million pounds to develop this airport !
Selling the Land
The first official talk about selling the land of “Nouzha Airport” came from the Minister of Civil Aviation, Muhammad Manar, on June 21, 2020.
In an interview with the journalist Ahmed Moussa, he said, "It has become difficult to open Al-Nouzha airport, as it is located within a residential area and is surrounded by the sea on both sides!"
He added, "El-Sisi took a decision to convert Nouzha Airport into an urban project due to its technical inadequacy, and measures were taken to implement that project."
The Deputy Minister of Civil Aviation, Mustafa Manna, also confirmed the sale of the airport land, justifying that the land of Nouzha Airport would be sold "because it is very expensive!". He indicated, during a phone call to the "Manchit" program, on the "extra news" channel 4, in July 2020, that the reason for the sale was "because the buildings began to spread around it."
The "businessmen" said that "the decision has already been issued since 2017 to sell the airport land to Emirati investors who represent the front of the Abu Dhabi government, but there were so many obstacles to evacuate the lands surrounding the airport, which are dotted with slums."
They emphasized that the decision to evacuate the residents was postponed until urgent projects called "Bashayer Al-Kheir" were implemented, which were supervised by Sisi himself, and when the instructions were completed to evacuate and the residents to evacuate by force.
El-Sisi himself was keen to rush and supervise the inauguration of housing called “Bashaer Al-Khair” in Alexandria since its inception, and he personally opened projects 2, 3, 4 and 5 from 2018 until the end of the fifth in early 2021.
Subsequently, the actual displacement to transfer residents from the farmland next to the airport began on May 28, 2021, when Parliament Representative Mahmoud Qassem informed them of a decision to confiscate all the houses in the area, in preparation for their transfer to alternative housing units without explanation.
Three days after the representative’s statement, on June 2, 2021, a committee attended the area to list and number the properties, and asked the residents of the first five properties to prepare to move to Bashayer Al-Kheir 3 and 5, according to Mada Masr on June 5, 2021.
Since the protest was dispersed and 51 people were arrested on June 4, police said that there were orders to vacate the area without discussion, and to speed up the transfer of residents.
Getting Rid Of Debts !
Egyptians on the communication sites confirmed that the sale of lands, projects, companies, hospitals, etc., the latest of which is Nady Ezbet Al-Saied behind Nozha Airport, for the benefit of Emirati investors, and that the removal of the area's housing " is just a solution to get rid of some of the accumulated debts of Egypt."
They considered that the UAE is collecting what it paid to the coup authority in exchange for its support for Sisi after the 2013 coup.
They reminded the Egyptians of billions paid by the UAE to Sisi, and the "rebellion" movement, which foreign reports confirmed was withdrawing from a bank account managed by Egyptian army generals and funded by the Emirates.
