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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 June 1999 Issue No. 432 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 June 1999 Issue No. 432
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Interview Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Bridging over heritage
By Gihan ShahineControversy over the construction of the terminal of the Qabbari bridge in Alexandria is continuing, after it was given the green light by Ahmed Abdel-Fattah, the Alexandria director of antiquities, on the grounds that the project serves the public interest.
Two weeks earlier, the Egyptian Permanent Committee for Antiquities (EPCA), a consultancy board for the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), had similarly declared approval, despite objections by some of its members.
The second part of the flyover will run over a Graeco-Roman cemetery, threatening it with destruction.
Ahmed El-Sawi, a member of the EPCA, was forced to boycott its meetings after fellow members shrugged off his objections. "The flyover will lead to downright destruction of the archaeological site," he said. Committee members, El-Sawi argued, were misled by a report submitted by the construction company suggesting that the area be turned into a tourist site, in return for building 22 concrete pillars to support the bridge.
"This is nothing but a trick, because the company did not base its report on a serious study," El-Sawi said. "Again, it is in the company's interest that the project be completed. Moreover, its consultants are not archaeologists."
According to Mustafa El-Abbadi, professor of Graeco-Roman history at Alexandria University, UNESCO had previously sent a committee of Italian and French archaeologists to inspect the area. The committee found that the project would ruin the antiquities below the bridge, and warned against the use of a giant drill and the construction of the 22 pillars. The committee also objected to the course of the flyover and it proposed alternatives. But these alternatives were rejected by the Egyptian construction company, El-Abbadi said.
Other archaeologists opposed the project, and the SCA bore the brunt of the criticism. "The role of the SCA is largely absent, but it is not always the fault of officials there," El-Sawi maintained. Many projects are launched without the SCA being consulted, due to lack of communication between the various government departments. And the result is urban encroachment on archaeological heritage, which is penalised by law, El-Sawi said.
According to a 1983 law, any deliberate, complete or partial destruction of an antiquity is punishable by five to seven years imprisonment and a LE3,000-50,000 fine. Imprisonment and a LE5,000-50,000 fine are the punishment for those who dig at an archaeological site without a government permit.
"The law needs to be properly enforced," El-Sawi said. Other archaeologists similarly complain that the law is full of loopholes that make violations possible.
The Ministry of Culture itself is moving in the direction of using its monuments for touristic purposes, as it did with the Citadel hotel project, "a matter that will definitely damage the monuments eventually, for no obvious reason," El-Sawi said.
According to Fawzi El-Fakharani, a professor of history at Alexandria University, the SCA should conduct more archaeological studies before allowing the completion of the flyover. He said the construction will ruin a Pharaonic city of the dead, which had been built on the site before the advent of Alexander the Great and the building of Alexandria.
"The area is full of Pharaonic antiques, particularly mummies, because this was the place where the dead were buried," El-Fakharani said. "But these antiques have not been excavated yet."
Abdel-Fattah retorted that the government had conducted comprehensive studies and come to the conclusion that the flyover would only affect sections of the cemeteries, running for 3.5 kilometres, which had already been subjected to theft and ruin during the Middle Ages. "There should be greater concern for the eastern part of the cemeteries, in Gabal Al-Malh, which is being eroded by subterranean water and urban encroachment," Abdel-Fattah said.
As for the UNESCO proposal, Abdel-Fattah argued that UNESCO is only concerned with antiquities, but Egyptian officials deal with projects from a wider perspective, taking the public interest into account. "Didn't we have to relocate the Abu Simbel temple to build the High Dam? It is the national interest that should take precedence," he said.
Abdel-Fattah, however, quickly added that the area, nevertheless, would be turned into an open-air museum, and that the Alexandria governorate had already allocated a budget for the project.
But El-Sawi sees matters differently. "Can't we find space for urban development projects away from archaeological sites?" he asked. "Should urban projects always take precedence over archaeological wealth? What is at stake here is our history."
