The Abdeen Court for Urgent Matters on Sunday reserved judgment until July 26 in a lawsuit seeking to document the current condition of El-Zohriya Garden, one of Cairo’s oldest botanical gardens, as campaigners try to preserve the historic site from redevelopment.
Located beneath the Cairo Tower in Zamalek and open to the public, El-Zohriya Garden is administered by the Ministry of Agriculture. Conservationists oppose a 2025 redevelopment plan they say could threaten the protected garden, while authorities have yet to disclose final details of the project or the entity overseeing it.
Founded in the 19th century as a botanical acclimatization garden, the site houses historic greenhouses, mature trees and hundreds of plant species. For more than a century, it served as a center for horticultural research and plant propagation before opening to the public in 2021.
Ahmed El Seidi, executive director of the Egyptian Foundation for Environmental Rights, told Al Manassa that the State Lawsuits Authority maintained during the hearing that the Court for Urgent Matters lacked jurisdiction to hear Case No. 475 of 2026, arguing that the dispute falls under the jurisdiction of the administrative judiciary. The foundation, however, insisted that the lawsuit does not seek to challenge an administrative decision, but rather to document the garden’s current condition.
According to El Seidi, the lawsuit seeks the appointment of an expert or a court inspection of the garden to document the ongoing works, to identify the company or entity carrying out the disputed project in preparation for taking appropriate legal action against it, should the facts warrant doing so.
Last September, El-Seidi filed a complaint with the Cabinet through the Government Complaints Portal, calling for all proposed projects concerning El-Zohriya Garden to be suspended until the proposed plan is published and shared in detail, and its compliance with constitutional provisions, the National Organization for Urban Harmony’s guidelines, and the requirements for preserving heritage gardens in general, and Zamalek’s gardens in particular, is assessed.
At the center of the dispute is a redevelopment plan unveiled in September 2025, which envisioned restaurants, a small hotel, and recreational facilities. Environmental and heritage advocates objected, warning that such projects could breach restrictions limiting construction to 2% of the garden’s area as per guidelines for Zamalek.
Despite months of circulation of the proposed plan, neither the entity overseeing the project nor its final details have been announced. Concerns resurfaced in May after white survey markings appeared in parts of the garden.
The Supreme Council for Urban Planning and Development issued a report titled “Boundaries and Principles for Preserving Zamalek Island,” outlining the principles and regulations governing the treatment of gardens located on Zamalek Island.
The report states that “clubs and public gardens are environmental protection areas that must be safeguarded by limiting building coverage so that construction does not exceed 5% of the total land area for clubs and 2% for public gardens. No club building may have an entrance opening onto the surrounding streets.”
