The Official Gazette on May 14, 2026, published a Prime Ministerial Decree expropriating about 25,500 square meters of land and property overlooking the Nile in Giza to complete the Ahl Misr Walkway and Parks project.
The order places another major Nile-side development within a broader state drive to seize private property for public benefit projects, a trend researchers say accelerated in 2025 and directly affected thousands of citizens.
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi issued a decree in 2022 establishing the Ahl Misr Walkway and Parks project in Manial Shiha and Abu El-Nomros, on Nile riverbank land owned by the ministries of irrigation and agriculture and the Giza governorate.
During implementation, the route adopted by the Armed Forces Engineering Authority showed that project works overlapped with privately owned properties belonging to citizens, investors, and companies in Manial Shiha, Abu El-Nomros, and Dahab Island, making expropriation necessary, according to explanatory notes by the Ministry of Justice attached to the decree.
The Ministry of Justice said the Egyptian General Survey Authority estimated preliminary compensation for the privately owned land and properties along the project’s route at about 70 million Egyptian pounds ($1.3 million).
The decree shows that the planned walkway will be a 20-meter-wide road running alongside the Nile River.
The lists of owners attached to the decree included prominent political figures, businessmen, and major landowners from Gulf states.
Among those whose properties are to be expropriated is Akmal Kortam, head of the Conservative Party and a founding member of the Civil Democratic Movement, an alliance representing so-called opposition parties. The decree orders the expropriation of several plots he owns in Dahab Island with a total area exceeding 2,000 square meters, including vacant land and buildings.
The decree also orders the expropriation of about 457 square meters owned by businessman Hassan Rateb in Abu El-Nomros.
Among Gulf-based owners, the decree includes the expropriation of about 8,000 square meters of agricultural and vacant land enclosed by walls and owned by Al-Jawhara Al Ibrahim, widow of the late Saudi King Fahd bin Abdulaziz. Other plots overlapping the project are owned by Kuwaiti and Yemeni nationals.
The decree also vocers buildings and land owned by tourism companies in Manial Shiha and Abu El-Nomros, as well as land used for projects, including wedding halls and sports fields owned by Egyptian citizens.
The latest Giza expropriation order comes amid a broader pattern flagged in a report by the Diwan Alomran research foundation, which documented an increase in the pace of state expropriations of private property in 2025.
The report, based on monitoring and analyzing government decrees expropriating property for public benefit, found that the state expropriated about 2.5 million square meters throughout the year for various projects, directly affecting 2,500 citizens.
Roads and bridges accounted for the largest share, at more than 51%, followed by transportation and sewage projects, according to the report.
Alexandria topped the list of governorates most affected by expropriation decrees last year, with more than 577,000 square meters seized. The governorate saw acute crises in areas including Toson, where hundreds of homes were seized to make way for the construction of the ring road, and the “Pearl of Alexandria” residential tower, which was expropriated to be replaced by a tourist hotel.
Cairo ranked second in terms of expropriated area, followed by Dakahliya, Qalyoubia, and Giza, where expropriated areas ranged between 200,000 and 300,000 square meters.
