Head of the Nature Protection Sector at the Ministry of Environment Ahmed Salama said Mohammed Island in Al Warak is not listed as a nature reserve based on a cabinet resolution for the year 1998 on removing 17 out of 144 Nile islands from the list of Egypt's nature reserves.

In statements to MENA on Monday, Salama said Mohammad Island in Giza's district of Warak lacks all aspects of biological diversity, noting that the Ministry of Environment has conducted a study to assess the conditions on the island and reached a conclusion that it is an ordinary area that lack all standards of the nature reserves. 

A cabinet resolution No. 1969 for the year 1998, issued during the era of former premier Kamal el Ganzoury, recommended removing as many as 17 Nile islands from the list of nature reserves. 

On Sunday, a campaign was launched to remove encroachments on the state-land islands in Warrak, forcing clashes between police and residents. The clashes left one person dead and 19 others injured. 

In a statement issued on Sunday evening, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said it was necessary for the state to reclaim its land, and that the campaign aimed at “restoring the people’s rights.”

Ismail also said that over 700 judicial decrees have been issued ordering illegal properties on Greater Cairo’s Warraq Island be removed, and that property owners can still legalize their illegally-build properties. He also said that no agricultural land will be evacuated or destroyed.

Source: MENA