Draft laws, new and old, got the greenlight in the House today as our elected representatives work through 58 ‘priority’ draft laws penciled in for this legislative cycle.

The building reconciliation act has finally got the green light: The Madbouly government’s new building reconciliation bill earned the House’s seal of approval after first getting committee approval nearly two years ago. The law aims to make it easier for owners of unauthorized buildings built by 15 October of this year to legalize their properties in return for paying a reconciliation fee. The law replaces a bill from 2019 that did not specify procedure for how local authorities would collect fees, leading to a backlog of unresponded reconciliation requests and unpaid fines.

Amendments to the Child Law got the nod: The amendments will give more social protections to children and mothers. They also seek to crack down on inconsistent birth registration. Parents who do not register the birth of their child, or who register the same child more than once, will now face a tougher penalty.

Loans, Loans, Loans:A 30-year loan worth JPY 100 bn from the JapanInternational Cooperation Agency (JICA) to fund the initial stage of Cairo’s Metro Line 4 got the go-ahead. The debt will come at a 0.1% interest rate and offers a grace period of 10 years. A separate agreement with Russia’s TMH International to import 1.3k train carriages was also approved.

Some disgruntlement from the floor: The approval of the loan from Japan got some blowback from MPs Abdel Moneim Imam and Diaa Eddin Dawoud, who rejected the bill on the grounds that it is contributing to what they said is Egypt’s “already-alarming” debt burden. Imam alleged that the transport ministry’s electric train project has cost the country USD 35 bn in loans, a claim that Transport Committee head Alaa Abed rejected.

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