Environmental Politics in Egypt: Activists, Experts and the State by Jeannie Sowers

Author:Jeannie Sowers [Sowers, Jeannie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Political Science, General, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781136672279
Google: Mg-CeK3XAdoC
Goodreads: 20789318
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-06-26T00:00:00+00:00

Liberalizing tourism and limiting conservation on Egypt's coastlines

Success in conserving portions of South Sinai through a network of protected areas was soon challenged by state promotion of coastal tourism development. State and donor interventions focused on liberalizing the tourism sector to encourage private investment in tourism services, infrastructure, and land development (Sakr et al., 2009: 29).

Following an institutional blueprint supplied by USAID and the World Bank, Presidential Decree No. 274 for 1991 established the Tourism Development Agency (TDA) as a legally autonomous “economic authority” authorized to distribute vast tracts of coastal land (Ministry of Tourism, undated). Using property maps drawn up by the Ministry of Defense and Military Production, the TDA was allocated most desert land outside of municipal boundaries, protected areas, and military zones for tourism investment.14 Under Egyptian law, all land not located within municipal boundaries or registered as private agricultural land is claimed as state property (malakiyya khassa lil-hukuma), and thus no legal provisions were made for customary and seasonal land uses.15

To encourage investment, land prices were set extremely low, ranging from US$1 per square meter along the Sinai coastline, whose offshore reefs are some of the most spectacular in the world, to US$10 per square meter near St. Catherine’s monastery and Mount Sinai (Sowers, 2003: 225). Land was similarly priced along the Red Sea coast. The TDA allocated land on the basis of a nominal application, to be followed within three years by unspecified substantive improvements to the site. Investors enjoyed payment schedules of ten years, and 10–25-year tax holidays.16

This system of land allocation promoted speculation in land and a shift in landholdings to large conglomerates. Cheap land costs combined with large minimum plot sizes encouraged large investors to buy extensively. Investors reported it was easier to pursue real estate development in Egypt than in the surrounding countries of Greece, Italy, and Turkey, because large land parcels were available and environmental restrictions were not enforced. In addition, the three-year deadline for making tangible investments in their parcel provided ample time for investors to make small changes while the price of land increased. An Egyptian consultant for the Ministry of Tourism told the author, “Investors who have money may just wait to develop the land they purchase, so that the price increases in the meantime. The smaller ones do the same, but use bank loans to tide them over.”17 As the IMF noted in a critical review of these policies, delayed investment requirements and tax holidays merely restricted general state revenues and increased the tax burden on medium and small-sized firms unable to join the land acquisition rush (Goldrup, 1998; International Monetary Fund, 1998).

Reportedly, the TDA' transferred a number of land parcels to ex-military and security officials as well as private investors, many of whom resold the land as prices escalated. In interviews, some businessmen were candid about their decision to diversify into tourism and land development. One, a well-known importer of Ford automobiles, observed, “We diversify to follow the profitable sectors. A few years ago this was land, bought from developers in Sharm el-Sheikh and the Red Sea.

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