The issuance of the Building Reconciliation law no.17/2019 has imposed a new reality, allowing legalization for illegal constructions which Egypt has been facing its challenges since decades. New policies require in-depth research especially with the scarcity of data concerning this topic. Therefore, this paper is an attempt to study the law issuance context and drivers from a legislative point-of-view, and comparatively-analyse them both nationally and internationally.
The research starts by demonstrating the picture of the long-existing phenomenon, analyzing formerly-issued building laws together with the reconciliation law, in terms of the measures of dealing with illegal constructions using an inductive methodology. Then, conducting a comparative analysis between those laws, regarding the allowed and disallowed items for legalization. Then an analytic discussion of the law's framework is conducted with a comparison between the Reconciliation Law and other similar international examples in terms of the process framework and mechanisms.
Results show that; former building laws in Egypt had all set the mechanism for legalization within their frameworks but with varying proportions, and they all failed to contain the situation. Generally-speaking, the Law allowed for legalizing most of the building violations in a rather flexible manner than before, but multiple issues appeared throughout its analysis. Therefore, recommendations include; the necessity of making quick action plans to strengthen the rule of law, protect the rights of law-abiders, include supervision mechanisms and dealing measures with unlegalized buildings. Also, comprehensive studies should be made to find practical means of achieving better urban integration of the legalized buildings.