Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency:  Newsflash

Egyptian authorities have been slammed for constructing this new bridge so close to surrounding buildings that some residents can touch it from their balconies while others have been left in comparative darkness.

Images of the construction in the neighbourhood of Al-Omraniya in the city of Giza in the northern Egyptian governorate of the same name have been widely circulated on social media.

In the images, the new bridge appears to be built directly parallel with a row of apartment blocks with little or no space between the balconies and the structure.

Many netizens pointed out that the bridge is so close to the buildings that residents will be able to step off their balcony straight onto the new road.

Major General Mahmoud Nassar, head of the Central Agency for Reconstruction, said that the buildings themselves were violating the allocated space for the new bridge.

He also reportedly told residents that they would be compensated for leaving their home, but those who chose to stay would be ineligible.

The 12-kilometre bridge is part of the Canal Zomor Road Links project, according to local media.

The population of Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, is mainly concentrated around the narrow Nile Valley and Nile Delta, with smaller numbers along the Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts as 95 percent of its land is uninhabitable desert.

Egypt’s population is expected to reach 119 million in 2030, according to a 2017 report by the United Nations Population Fund.

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