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El Montazah I District
El Montazah I District

Emergency and hotline numbers

The district’s administration

The district’s heads since 2015, its departments, what they do and what they have done, and its gardens and beaches, as the district presents them in the «نبذة» (About) section of its own site, montazaonline.com. The figures are the district’s, for the years it gives.

The district in its own words

On its page «نبذة» (“About”), the district says it launched full e-government at the end of 2003 and set up its site, www.montazaonline.com, so that residents could carry out some services without coming in person.

The page says El Montazah was separated from the East District in 1982, that the present headquarters building went up in 1986, and that the district holds 21 shiakhas and a rural hinterland of 96 villages and hamlets with about 13,000 feddans, mostly under fruit and vegetables and some grain such as wheat. These figures most likely describe El Montazah as a whole, before it was divided in 2013; the governorate’s boundary document gives El Montazah I nine shiakhas today.

The page gives the district’s population as 1,117,345: 573,543 men and 543,802 women. It does not say which year the count is from.

  • 1,117,345

    residents

  • 573,543

    men

  • 543,802

    women

The district’s limits

North
El Geish Road, from where it meets El Iqbal Street to where it meets Street 45.
South
The Mahmoudiya canal road (El Awayed to Kafr El Dawwar), from El Awayed bridge to El Amia bridge, where Khourshid meets Kafr El Dawwar.
East
El Iqbal Street, running on into El Galaa Street and then Gamila Bouhired Street to El Awayed bridge and the Mahmoudiya canal.
West
Street 45, running on to Mustafa Kamel Street, then the International Ring Road to the Fifth Bridge.

The district’s heads

From the board of district heads on the district’s site, newest first.

  1. Head of the district

    Walid Ali Morsy

    Since 21 December 2025

    • Director of the General Department for Crises and Disasters and the National Network control centre.
    • Director General of the General Department for Follow-up.
    • Holds a BA in Arts.
  2. Eng. Sahar Shaaban Hanafy

    Eng. Sahar Shaaban Hanafy

    June 2024 to December 2025

    • Head of El Gomrok District from 4 November 2018, of the East District from 15 October 2019, then of the West District from 10 June 2020.
    • Holds a degree in engineering.
  3. Maj. Gen. Mohamed Abdallah Sahloul

    Maj. Gen. Mohamed Abdallah Sahloul

    April 2022 to June 2024

    • Director General of the General Department for Summer Resorts.
    • Acting supervisor of the rapid removal unit.
    • Holds a law degree and a police diploma.
  4. Eng. Gihan Massoud

    Eng. Gihan Massoud

    7 June 2020 to 16 April 2022

    • Left the district to become assistant secretary general of Alexandria Governorate.

  5. Hamdy Abdel Alim Hassan Shama

    5 September 2018 to 7 June 2020

    • Left the district to head the centre and town of El Tal El Kebir, Ismailia Governorate.

  6. Maj. Gen. Khaled Hassan Morsy Hassan

    1 February 2017 to 4 September 2018

    • Left the district to head the centre and town of Desouk, Kafr El Sheikh Governorate.

  7. Maj. Gen. Ahmed Mahmoud Ahmed Abu Taleb

    21 June 2015 to 31 January 2017

    • Retired.

The photographs are from the district’s site and belong to the district. It publishes none for the other heads.

The district’s departments

What each department does and what it has done, as it wrote on the district’s site. Most pages date from January 2023, so the figures cover 2020 to 2022 unless they say otherwise.

Office of the district head

What it does

  • Prepares a report on the departments’ work each morning for the district head.
  • Receives residents and works with the departments concerned to solve their problems.
  • Arranges the head’s appointments, meetings and interviews, and follows up the head’s instructions.
  • Receives letters from the governorate and other bodies and routes them, sends the departments’ letters out, and stays open until 11 p.m. to do so.
  • Drafts and files the memoranda put to the governor, and studies and answers the letters referred to it.
  • Runs the district’s operations room and hosts the regularisation committees.

What it has done

  • Political liaison office: 162 requests from MPs and 20 from schools in 2020, 255 and 21 in 2021, 131 and 10 in 2022, all completed.
  • Follow-up office: 66 letters in 2020, 99 in 2021 and 31 in 2022, all completed.
  • 844 requests to recover seized street goods, with their fines assessed under the executive council’s decision; 99% completed.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 20 January 2023

A meeting in the office of the district head
Photo: El Montazah I District

Office of the district secretary general

What it does

  • Organises the secretary general’s work and appointments, and follows up the letters the secretary general marks with the departments concerned.
  • Organises the public meeting the secretary general attends, to answer residents’ complaints at once.
  • Coordinates the committees the secretary general chairs: regularising shops and public premises, clearing gullies and drains, stopping encroachments on farmland as they start, counting arrears on low-cost housing, naming streets, and counting illegal water and sewer connections.

What it has done

  • The office followed up 1,219 incoming letters from outside bodies and 314 from inside the district, and sent 609 letters out and 1,795 internally.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 20 January 2023

At work in the office of the secretary general
Photo: El Montazah I District

Technology citizen service centre

What it does

  • Receives residents’ requests for all the district’s services, all automated, so that the official and the applicant are kept apart for transparency.
  • Has a desk for the Local Government Services portal to help residents use it, and a numbered queue system.
  • Takes electronic payment only; it was the first centre in Alexandria to move from cash to fully electronic payment.
  • Scans every request into an archive and links the departments through an electronic correspondence system.

What it has done

  • In 2019 the district was one of the first three in the Ministry of Local Development’s system linking technology centres to a central database; the revenue and accounts departments joined it at the end of 2020.
  • In the Egypt Government Excellence Award: second place among technology centres in the third round (March 2023), and first place in the fourth round (January 2026).
  • In 2024: 21,297 requests, 90% of them completed, 99% of complaints closed, and 224 fitness certificates. Over the last three years: 49,413 transactions, 4,429 occupancy permits and 598 fitness statements.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 24 February 2023

The entrance of the technology citizen service centre at the district headquarters
Photo: El Montazah I District

Citizen service department

Works under

  • Prime Ministerial decree 1855 of 2017 (the unified government complaints system).

What it does

  • Receives complaints from the unified complaints system, the technology centre, the governorate, the “Your Voice Is Heard” and district heads’ sites, and the public meeting with the district head.
  • Studies each complaint, refers it to the body concerned and chases late replies.
  • Tells complainants what was done, by telephone, post or social media, and calls them to check that the departments responded.
  • Prepares monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and yearly statistics.

What it has done

  • 2,715 complaints in 2020 and 3,022 in 2021, all answered.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 20 January 2023

Revenue department

Works under

  • Law 136 of 1981 and its amendments.
  • Law 308 of 1955 on administrative seizure.
  • The financial regulations for the budget and accounts, 2020 edition.

What it does

  • Collects the money owed to the district, and enters collectors’ payments and administrative seizure reports into the system.
  • Sends a monthly statement of receipts to the governorate’s financial affairs department and the finance directorate.
  • Enters regularisation and inspection fees into the system, and updates housing arrears for the governorate.

What it has done

  • Corrected the arrears of 639 stalls in the Souq 30 market.
  • Completed 1,080 incoming and 500 outgoing requests, and entered 2,450 administrative seizure reports.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 20 January 2023

Information and decision support centre

Works under

  • Presidential decree 627 of 1981 establishing information and documentation centres.

What it does

  • Runs the district’s government e-mail.
  • Gathers, checks and analyses the data for the monthly bulletin, and lays out the bulletin and its covers.
  • Writes two decision-support studies and two forecasts a year for the governorate, and updates the statistical guide.
  • Sends the governorate monthly reports on cleaning, building violations, lighting, roads, street occupancy, removals and building permits.
  • Trains the district’s staff on computers, and compiles each district head’s record for the term of office.

What it has done

  • Consistently first in the governorate for its monthly bulletin.
  • Prepared the 2019 Government Excellence Award file that won the district first place nationally, and the 2020 file that placed it among the five best districts.
  • Took part in surveying Ezbet El Shamy, choosing the hamlets for the 1,000 Villages initiative and listing their needs, and counting the malls and unplanned industrial areas.
  • The district’s population unit coordinator comes from the centre.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 11 April 2023

“Mashrouak” (Your Project) department

Works under

  • Circular 193 of 2018 on the national community, human and local development project “Mashrouak”.

What it does

  • Mashrouak is a Ministry of Local Development initiative offering soft loans to micro, small and medium projects, to create jobs for young people and women who support families.
  • The department receives applicants, fills in the loan application and prepares the file the bank needs for the kind of project.
  • It issues the five-year Mashrouak licence and runs awareness campaigns about the initiative.
  • The partner banks: National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Banque du Caire, Alexbank and the Housing and Development Bank.

What it has done

  • 94 projects financed with loans totalling EGP 30,779,000, creating 346 jobs.
  • 8 Mashrouak licences, and 31 temporary licences to operate for up to five years.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 20 January 2023

Planning and follow-up department

Works under

  • Law 182 of 2018.

What it does

  • Draws up the investment plan for paving, lighting, tree planting and the vehicle fleet, and follows its delivery.
  • Answers complaints, and MPs’ requests through the political liaison office.
  • Holds the utilities’ meetings for the investment plan and for projects such as the Street 45 tunnel and the upgrading of Mustafa Kamel Road and the Corniche.

What it has done

  • Completed the project to upgrade the neediest villages.
  • Upgraded two unplanned areas: Darbala (Sidi Bishr Qibli) and Ezbet Mohsen El Kobra.
  • Upgraded Mustafa Kamel Street from El Saa to Street 45 (paving, lighting and trees), and relit the Corniche within the district with LED lamps and more poles.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 19 January 2023

Gardens department

Works under

  • Law 182 of 2018, its executive regulations and their amendments.

What it does

  • Looks after the district’s gardens, squares and green spaces, about 5 feddans, replanting and improving them.
  • Prunes palms and trees in the gardens, the streets and the main roads.
  • Answers residents’ requests, and prunes trees around schools, churches, police stations, youth centres and charities.
  • Takes part in tree-planting initiatives, among them the 100 million trees initiative and “Alexandria Goes Green”.

What it has done

  • Built a greenhouse at its nursery, refitted the nursery and brought in modern garden machinery.
  • Reshaped the central reservation of Mustafa Kamel Street from El Saa bridge after the road was widened, and redid the garden of the Sidi Bishr Mosque (500 m² of lawn and about 650 shrubs) and the El Seyouf garden.
  • Residents’ complaints: 59 in 2020, 45 in 2021 and 25 in 2022.
  • The nursery’s output in 2022: 225 trees, 4,585 shrubs, 67 palms and palm-like plants, and 1,110 herbaceous plants.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 20 January 2023

A square’s garden in the district
Photo: El Montazah I District

Road occupancy department

Works under

  • Road occupancy law 140 of 1956.
  • Law 92 of 2018 on licensing mobile carts.
  • Governor’s decree 217 of 2022 on slaughter outside abattoirs and licensing stalls.
  • The executive council’s decisions on fees for Ramadan stalls (2021) and fines for seized goods (2018, with additions in 2019 and 2022).

What it does

  • Inspects applications to license awnings, displays, fridges, projections and air conditioners on the street.
  • Writes up violations and their fines and passes them to the revenue department.
  • Investigates complaints and obtains removal orders for fixed structures such as kiosks.
  • Runs removal campaigns every morning and evening, and night campaigns to enforce shop closing hours.

What it has done

  • Over three years: 33,727 violation reports and fines, 5,909 permits, 270 removal orders and 3,285 removal campaigns.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 19 January 2023

A night campaign to clear street occupancy
Photo: El Montazah I District

Advertising department

Works under

  • Law 208 of 2020, in force since 1 August 2021, replacing Law 66 of 1956.

What it does

  • Inspects applications for advertising licences and sends them electronically to the model service centre for issue.
  • Writes up daily reports and fines for unlicensed advertisements and issues removal orders.
  • Investigates complaints, and forms the sub-committees for advertisements on state land.

What it has done

  • 11,095 violation reports and fines, 6,857 licence applications, and 37 removal orders on top of the daily removals during campaigns.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 19 January 2023

Projects department

Works under

  • Law 182 of 2018.

What it does

  • Follows the district’s yearly works and investment plan.
  • Follows the carrying out of removal and demolition orders.

What it has done

  • The district’s yearly works for each financial year, and the headquarters’ needs.
  • Restoring the vehicle fleet’s garage at Ras El Soda, the El Azima building and the wall of the El Seyouf nursery, and building rooms and toilets there.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 20 January 2023

Lifts department

Works under

  • Building law 119 of 2008.

What it does

  • Inspects lifts and licenses them.
  • Inspects boilers and generators and issues their installation and operating permits.
  • Investigates complaints and referrals and takes legal action against violators.

What it has done

  • About 220 lift licences, 210 violation reports, 210 stop orders and 250 power disconnections of unsafe lifts.
  • Entered about 350 backlogged files into the government services system.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 20 January 2023

Occupants’ unions department

Works under

  • Building law 119 of 2008.

What it does

  • Registers occupants’ unions and updates their details on requests from the technology centre, answering them in the system.
  • Answers complaints and writes to union chairs to solve problems.

What it has done

  • 347 certificates of registration and of changes to union boards.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 16 January 2023

Engineering department: drawing office

What it does

  • Issues fitness statements and building lines.
  • Sits on the committees for parking spaces, the Mustafa Kamel Street upgrade, the urban surveys of Khourshid and El Falaki, shop regularisation and the settlement of building violations.

What it has done

  • Fitness statements: 127 in 2020, and 259 requests in 2022, 12 of them for the Educational Buildings Authority and 20 for the United Housing and Development Company.
  • About 1,300 incoming requests; handed over 4 plots to the Educational Buildings Authority and 2 to the post office in the 90-feddan area.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 20 January 2023

Engineering department: unsafe buildings section

What it does

  • Inspects buildings at risk of collapse and orders their repair or their full or partial demolition.
  • Writes up offences when the orders are not carried out, and issues the certificates needed for repair or demolition permits.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 20 January 2023

Committees and councils department

Works under

  • Local administration law 43 of 1979 and its amendments.

What it does

  • Runs the district’s executive council and the street-naming and literacy committees.
  • Follows up the governorate executive council’s decisions and instructions with the departments concerned.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 20 January 2023

Housing research department

Works under

  • Governor’s decrees 76 of 2020, 131 of 2021 and 67 of 2022.

What it does

  • Housing allocation, social cases, inspection, complaints and administrative evictions.
  • Social studies for applications to regularise or buy a unit.

What it has done

  • Housing applications in Ras El Soda, Sidi Bishr, Darbala and Victoria from 2020 to 2022: 898, of which 225 led to a signed contract and 329 were in progress.
  • Entered 13 blocks of the El Amrikan estate into the system, and surveyed the housing areas under decree 76 of 2020.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 16 January 2023

Equal opportunities unit

Works under

  • Decree 1289 of 2018 activating equal opportunities units in the districts.
  • Decree 230 of 2022 adding people with disabilities to the units’ remit.

What it does

  • Holds awareness sessions for women and people with disabilities, and legal awareness of women’s rights.
  • Runs missions to issue national ID cards for women free of charge.
  • Directs women who support families to craft and sewing training, and helps family businesses sell their goods.
  • Publishes the guide to shelters for women who suffer violence, and joins the 16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women each year.
  • Counted the district’s employees with disabilities (103) to check that their workplace suits them.
  • Runs campaigns on the dangers of addiction and publicises the free, confidential treatment hotline, 16023.

What it has done

  • First place three years running (2021, 2022 and 2023) in the governorate’s training course for equal opportunities units.
  • 1,474 free national ID cards for women in 2021 (target 1,200) and 780 in 2022 (target 600).
  • 90 free insurance policies for women, with the National Council for Women.
  • 8 campaigns on the dangers of addiction in 2021, reaching 873 people.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 30 January 2023

Environmental affairs department

Works under

  • Environment law 4 of 1994, amended by Law 9 of 2009, and its executive regulations.

What it does

  • Investigates environmental complaints and writes up premises in breach.
  • Inspects premises, hospitals, petrol stations and gas cylinder depots on a schedule.
  • Runs talks and initiatives in schools: sorting waste at source, climate change, and “No to plastic bags”.
  • Joins the large joint campaigns, and the stray dog and bird flu campaigns.

What it has done

  • 2020: 411 complaints, 1,079 inspections and 32 reports.
  • 2021: 380 complaints, 2,307 inspections and 77 reports.
  • 2022: 402 complaints, 1,703 inspections, 136 reports, and awareness initiatives in 15 schools.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 20 January 2023

Research and development department

Works under

  • Decree 98 of 2002.

What it does

  • Runs initiatives, talks, workshops, exhibitions and training for residents.
  • Measures the departments’ performance with common forms, and gathers the yearly record with outside bodies and utilities for the governor.

What it has done

  • 4 initiatives reaching 561 people, 28 talks (347 people) and 16 workshops (218 people).
  • For the “Decent Life” project: listed the needs of 36 villages proposed for upgrading in El Montazah I’s countryside, and 137 of the poorest homes.
  • The district was chosen as a model for participatory budgeting, and the department prepared its entry for the Bloomberg Mayors Challenge 2021.

The department’s page on the district’s site · 20 January 2023

Gardens, squares and beaches

From the district’s list published on 29 January 2023.

Gardens and squares

The district’s gardens and their areas
GardenWhereArea (m²)
Mustafa Kamel Street central reservationFrom El Saa roundabout to Street 4510,000
El Seyouf roundaboutGamila Bouhired junction3,150
Naval Academy gardensMalek Hefny Bahari Street at Gamal Abdel Nasser745
Ramada gardenFacing the Sidi Bishr Mosque460
Sidi Bishr SquareFacing the district headquarters450
El Mahrousa trianglesCentral reservation facing El Mahrousa400
Bisco Misr gardenAlong the Bisco Misr factory wall400
Ard El Miladi gardenStreet 30, Sidi Bishr Qibli400
Khalil Hamada gardensGamal Abdel Nasser Street285
El Talaba squareMalek Hefny Street at Iskandar Ibrahim265
Bir Masoud gardensEl Geish Road facing Bir Masoud200
El Fasha squareSidi Bishr tram155
Sidi Bishr Mosque Street bedsSidi Bishr Mosque Street100
South of the headquartersSouth of the railway, Sidi Bishr100
At the headquarters’ main gateMalek Hefny Qibli Street100
El Taawon lawnBeside the petrol station, Sidi Bishr100
Corniche plazasThe beds along the Corniche60
Iskandar Ibrahim triangleFacing the telephone exchange50
Mohamed Naguib bedsMohamed Naguib central reservation20

Beaches (13)

  1. El Saraya public beach
  2. Ishak Helmy beach
  3. Enas Hakki beach (service on request)
  4. Abu Heif premium beach
  5. El Manar beach
  6. El Fanar beach
  7. Sidi Bishr premium beach 1
  8. Edwar El Kharrat beach (service on request)
  9. Miramar public beach
  10. Miami public beach
  11. Miami premium beach (Freska)
  12. Gezirat El Dahab beach
  13. Mahmoud Said beach
  • One of the district’s gardens
  • A path between palms in one of the district’s gardens
  • A planted square in the district
  • Shades on one of the district’s beaches
  • One of the district’s beaches in summer

Photos: El Montazah I District

Sources

  1. 1El Montazah I District’s site: «نبذة» (About)
  2. 2The district’s site: the board of district heads
  3. 3The district’s site: heritage sites, public squares and beaches (29 January 2023)
  4. 4The departments’ pages on the district’s site, linked from each department above.