Residents living around Merryland Park in Heliopolis claimed trees inside the park were massacred lask week, prompting Environmental Minister Khaled Fahmy to form a committee.
Committee members include representatives from the Environmental Affairs Agency, the Maadi Trees Association and Cairo University’s Faculty of Agriculture. A report on the incident in the park will be submitted within a week.
The ministry’s legal affairs department will examine the rental contracts of the park.
In a meeting with the tenant and other concerned authorities, the minister ordered a stop to all development work inside the park. The ministry said that it has not issued any permits for the development of the park or the lake inside it, and that the tenant did not submit a study to assess the environmental impact of the project, which is contrary to Article 19 of the Environment Act.
Fahmy said the environmental violations included cutting historical trees and excessive pruning of other trees without first referring to the Environment and Agriculture ministries. He asked the concerned bodies and civil society organizations to find ways to replace the trees.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
