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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 July 1999 Issue No. 439 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 July 1999 Issue No. 439
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Focus Interview Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Squaring the circle
By Fatemah FaragIn the midst of Tahrir Square, all existence is reduced to wave upon wave of cars, noise, pedestrians and heat. It is easy to forget that the square was originally planned by Khedive Ismail as part of a new, resolutely modern (that is, European) Cairo. Today, Tahrir is the heart not only of the downtown area, but of the capital in general. So when a water pipe burst two weeks ago, releasing floods of waste water into the street, it was more than just an embarrassing glitch -- especially now that repair efforts are entering their third week after two more ruptures.
Surrounded by heavy-duty equipment and rusty pipes, engineer Mohamed Gibril shrugged when asked how much longer it would take to bring the situation under control. "How can we say? Every time we fix something, another problem pops up. It depends on the kinds of obstacles we will meet. However, we have finished three water wells so far and have one more to go."
Gibril works for the Osman Ahmed Osman Contracting Company, which was brought in by the Cairo Governorate to complete the repairs. "We have six engineers and about 50 manual labourers working around the clock in shifts," he explained. "It is a big job because we discovered another pipe last week that should have been removed a long time ago. It seems that when they were digging for the metro someone just shut it off, and it has been a source of many problems."
Across the street, officials from the Sewage Authority sit under a tree seeking a respite from the scorching sun. "It was their work that led to the sewage pipes bursting," said one official who refused to give his name, pointing an accusatory finger at the other side. "We have had to dig six feet deep to get to the source of the problem and we're putting in a whole new sewage line. It will take us about another week and we have 100 men working around the clock to get the job done."
Officials pointed out surface machines and pipes being used to temporarily substitute for the malfunctioning underground pipes. "We have done our best not to inconvenience the public, and the sewage system in the downtown area is operational as a result of these makeshift measures," one said.
Despite the inconveniences of the past few weeks, everything seems to be more or less under control -- or is it? Only two months ago, headlines like "Finally, Tahrir Square finds a solution" were appearing in the national newspapers. The articles asserted that, after over two decades of development efforts, the problems that have plagued this crucial crossroads for decades would be solved.
Today's problems are hardly commensurate with the years of effort poured into the square. Recently, Abdel-Rehim Shehata, Cairo's governor, said that Tahrir had been the focus of 25 years of thought and planning. At one point, it was covered with a maze of pedestrian flyovers. These, considered unsightly by the authorities, were finally torn down -- but by then, construction of the metro had begun. The digging resulted in much traffic re-routing over the following 10 years.
To add to the chaos, Tahrir was also once the location of the central bus terminal, which was then removed. Gardens were put in and ripped out, parking lots installed and expanded -- all bits and pieces of what seems to have been a constant, if rather haphazard, drive to "develop" the midan.
Recently, the governorate announced that the "solution" would be a LE300 million project comprising two underground parking lots built by the private sector, which has bought 25 years of "use rights" at a cost of LE156 million. The governorate says that the project -- expected to enter its first phase in 2002, and dubbed 'a square under the square' -- will solve the problem of down-town parking. As Gibril looked at the rubble around him, however, he said: "They are going to have a lot of problems if they start digging for a project like a parking lot."
Arguably, infrastructure problems are largely a question of maintenance. "The problem is that in this country there is no upkeep. Without it, and with the severe pressure on infrastructure, there are bound to be problems," added Gibril.
The latest governorate figures indicate that the government has earmarked LE2 billion to support and maintain Cairo's infrastructure. In a city growing at breathtaking speed, however, there is bound to be a dilemma with respect to how the money is spent.
Ali Abdel-Rehim, who was born and raised in downtown Cairo, was picking his way through the rubble to reach the mailbox. He would like to be optimistic. "Look, Tahrir is very important, not only because of the traffic that comes through it but because of all the landmarks like the museum, the American University and all the hotels. That is why it should be a priority. After so many years, it was finally beginning to look a bit organised. I hope the difficulties we have seen in the past few weeks do not mean that fixing Tahrir is an impossible task."
