The Egyptian cabinet has finally approved the long-awaited amendments to the Real Estate Registry Act that would facilitate procedures for registration of property units, Invest-Gate reports.

The act aims to motivate people to register their units at real estate registry offices to limit unofficial selling processes, which happen due to the complicated registration procedures, not the high fees, according to the cabinet statement.

Under the amendments, the registry office would give each unit a temporary code that becomes permanent if it was not contested within 30 days.

Transfer of ownership to the property utilities would be allowed only by using this code at any government body, the statement added.

During the same meeting, the cabinet approved a USD 2.9 mn (EGP 45.6 mn) grant from South Korea to create an intellectual property database that enables online patent applications.

The cabinet also gave a nod to EUR 120 mn funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a wastewater treatment plant in Alexandria.