Cairo: Egyptian authorities have removed a total of 18,435 cases of encroachments and illegal buildings in the period between May 10 and 30, 2025, said the Egyptian cabinet in a statement on Sunday, June 8, 2025.

According to State Information Service Egypt, this was the first phase of the 26th campaign of encroachment removals, while the next phase was launched on June 7th and will last until June 27th, the statement added. In more detail, the authorities removed, in the first phase, a total of 3,225 building encroachments on state-owned land, covering an area of 1.1 million square meters, besides 1,792 cases of building on agricultural area of 42 acres.

Furthermore, 6,913 illegal building changes were demolished on an area of 862,400 square meters, while illegal agricultural changes reached 3,679 cases on an area of 118 acres. Also, a total of 2,826 illegal building changes on agricultural land, covering an area of 108 acres, was reported. Encroachments include illegal construction on the Nile banks and arable lands, unlicensed fish farming, and disposal of industrial waste as well as other forms of pollution.

In August 2020, the head of the Agricultural Professions Syndicate said that Egypt has lost more than 1.2 million feddans (one feddan equals about 1.038 acres) over 40 years starting from 1984 until 2015 due to encroachment activities on the agriculture lands.