Egypt Launches a Satellite System to Track Who's Building on the Nile

The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation has launched a digital platform to document and manage state-owned lands along the Nile River, as part of efforts to improve governance, monitor land use and strengthen the collection of state revenues.

Developed under the ministry's Egypt Water 2.0 digital transformation programme, the platform provides up-to-date data to support decision-making and streamline administrative procedures by integrating cadastral maps with satellite imagery.

The system is being rolled out first in Dakahleya Governorate, where it compiles a digital database for each plot of Nile riverbank land. Records include beneficiary information, land area, land-use fees, payment status, cadastral maps and satellite images.

According to the ministry, the platform enables real-time monitoring of Nile riverbank properties to detect encroachments, track land-use fee payments and ensure compliance with regulations governing activities on state-owned land. It also allows officials to evaluate the performance of administrative departments and monitor revenue collection from land-use rights.

Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sewilam has directed officials to expand the database to cover all governorates bordering the Nile. The wider rollout will incorporate cadastral maps and satellite imagery developed under Egypt's national Nile River management project.

The ministry added that the platform will eventually be developed into a mobile application, enabling engineers to access property records and conduct field inspections more efficiently while supporting faster oversight of land use and related administrative processes.