CAIRO — Egypt’s government is planning on turning over 150 rundown heritage buildings in central Cairo to the private sector in a bid to have them refurbished and then rented out for profit.

Egyptian Minister of Public Enterprise Hesham Tawfik announced the government’s plan April 23; it hopes to save a wide repertoire of buildings of neoclassical, art nouveaux, beaux arts, art deco and early modern styles, many built in the early 20th century and nationalized in the 1960s, Reuters reported.

Due to a major lack of funding and maintenance, as many tenants living in old rent-controlled units pay a pittance without landlords being able to raise the amount due, these buildings have suffered from various degrees of dilapidation.

Tawfik said April 24 on the TEN channel talk show that the purpose of renting these buildings out is to preserve their historic value, as most of them require restoration. He said that not all 150 buildings would be turned over to the private sector at once, but rather only four or five buildings at a time for starters to try how things would go.