Ezbet El-Haggana
Introduction '''Ezbet El Haggana/ Al-kilo arba'a wa nus''' (Also spelt , ‘Izbit Al-Haggāna, Arabic عزبة الهجانة/ الكيلو أربعة ونص) is a 750 acre (315 HA) ''shiakha'' (census block) sub-district in the Nasr City West district, in the Eastern Area of Cairo, Egypt. Haggana is a mostly self-built informal settlement that Mike Davis called a mega-slum, due to its supposedly large size, high population density and lack of basic infrastructure, with housing issues similar to other deprived neighbourhoods in Egypt's cities.After a visit by president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in February 2021, he decided to rename the community '''Madinat al-Amal''' (City of Hope, ) in light of plans to upgrade the area.
History As early as the 1930s, the Armed Forces housed their camel corps border patrol ''(hajjana)'' at the 4.5km point in the then desert outskirts on the Cairo-Suez road. leading to the names Ezbet al-Haggana (Haggana Hamlet) and ''al-kilo arba'a wa nus''. Over the years the camp turned into a permanent settlement as soldiers built single-storey stone structures with mud ceilings (''al-suwaysi'' houses), until Cairo expanded east in the 1960s with the construction of the Nasr City district and the vacant desert land became valuable real estate that was initially squatted in the 1970s and later progressed into a complex system of illegal subdivision and sales, resulting in conflicts and physical altercations and the emergence of what some called a 'land mafia.'
Demographics Populatuion estimates for Haggana varied widely over the years between 30,000 and  is one million people. However, the latest 2017 Census puts it at 86,195 people, giving it a density of 115 people/acre (273/ha, 27,363/km2).
See also *Housing in Egypt*Nasr City
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