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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 Feb. - 1 March 2000 Issue No. 470 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 Feb. - 1 March 2000 Issue No. 470
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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New horizons for transport
In an exclusive interview, Minister of Transportation Ibrahim El-Demiri talks to Gihan Shahine about his plans to tackle the many challenges facing Egypt's national transportation services, and upgrade the system as a whole
photo: Khaled El-Fiqi
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Heritage Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Stacks of papers on the minister of transportation's desk in his elegant Nasr City office give some indication of the sheer size of Ibrahim El-Demiri's portfolio. The national airline, railways, public transportation, road planning and maritime services are all on the minister's agenda.
El-Demiri assumed his post just over four months ago, on 6 October 1999. Since then, he has faced a series of catastrophes, the biggest of which was the tragic crash of EgyptAir flight 990, off the east coast of the US, killing all 217 people on board.
El-Demiri, however, is fully aware of his responsibilities and accepts the challenge. A transportation consultant for the United Nations and the World Bank since 1983, El-Demiri obtained his PhD in transportation planning from Aechen University in Germany.
In the face of the dilemmas currently plaguing EgyptAir, the recent surge in highway fatalities, train accidents and traffic congestion, El-Demiri appears confident and calm.
ADDRESSING AVIATION'S POTENTIAL: The press has been having a field day reporting on EgyptAir's seemingly never-ending woes: the hijacking of one of its planes last year by a mentally-ill man, the recent arrest of two pilots caught on videotape engaging in indecent acts with two German women in the cockpit during a flight; and, just two weeks ago, pilot Hamdi Hanafi's bid for political asylum in England based on his claim of having information about the crash of flight 990.
An Arabic newspaper published in London recently quoted El-Demiri as "criticising the performance of EgyptAir and announcing new plans to transform the national airline into a holding company". The statements have inspired a public dialogue on the possibility of privatising EgyptAir, and talk of whether such a step would improve the carrier's performance.
El-Demiri, however, denies having made these statements. "Many journalists, unfortunately, tend to fabricate the truth in their quest for a scoop," El-Demiri says. "They make up stories claiming I am in the midst of a dispute with EgyptAir's chairman, or with the People's Assembly. But all these stories are untrue."
El-Demiri firmly believes that "the crisis EgyptAir is currently witnessing has been forced upon it by the accident [the crash of flight 990] and we should not criticise or underestimate the great national carrier. EgyptAir has a huge qualified staff and great potential. Its national role is hard to ignore. Why is the press focusing so much on EgyptAir, almost as if there is a plan to harm it?"
El-Demiri does concede that aviation services as a whole are being upgraded, as is the case in other transportation sectors. "We are currently re-engineering the civil aviation sector, including EgyptAir," he explains.
Plans to improve civil aviation include upgrading airports to meet the ever-increasing demand, and to take measures that answer complaints about airport congestion and trip delays, especially in tourism hot spots like Luxor, Aswan, Hurghada, Abu Simbel and Sharm Al-Sheikh. El-Demiri has also invited private investment, through the build, operate and transfer (BOT) system, to construct eight new airports in order to connect tourist sites nationwide. The new facilities will be located at Marsa Alam, Al-Alamein, Al-Farafra, Al-Wahat, Ras Sidr, Sohag, Assiut and Ain Sukhna.
As for specific questions regarding possible maintenance problems at EgyptAir, or plans to allow other carriers to operate in Egypt, El-Demiri smilingly declines to give any further information on how EgyptAir might be restructured or whether this would include privatising the airline. Instead, he emphasised that "reorganisation never means criticising anybody's performance".
RESTRUCTURING THE RAILWAYS: The role of the private sector, however, does not stop at building roads and airports. El-Demiri plans to invite private investors to establish new catering services in railway stations and take part in their management. Establishing a high-speed train (travelling at 300 kilometres per hour) that connects Alexandria with Aswan is another one of the minister's ambitious plans that will involve the private sector in transportation services. The cost, to the tune of LE10-12 billion, will be funded completely by private investment. El-Demiri, however, emphasises the fact that the introduction of private services in railways never means privatising them, as some people would assume, and will definitely not result in an increase in fares.
"Private investment will bring in funds for the ministry to spend on upgrading railway stations and services, especially for third-class commuters," El-Demiri says. These funds will also be instrumental in carrying out a four-year project to convert the train engines, along the 5,000 kilometres of Egyptian railways, from using diesel fuel to being powered by electricity -- a measure that will increase train efficiency and safety. "Our objective is to have one of the world's most advanced railway network within five years," El-Demiri says.
Some would say it's about time. With the railway authority operating at a loss, there has been a serious decline in the quality of its services and a greater incidence of train accidents, resulting in tragic deaths and a financial shortfall roughly estimated at LE400 million a year.
AIMING FOR A REAL HIGHWAY: Reducing motor accidents is one of El-Demiri's main concerns. Road accidents are the second most frequent cause of death in Third World countries. Recent statistics are alarming: in 1998, 23,363 accidents took place on Egypt's roadways, claiming the lives of almost 5,000 people and injuring nearly 22,000. The surge in accident fatalities has opened a Pandora's box of questions about road planning and its relation to other causes of accidents.
For El-Demiri, establishing a national transport safety council is one way of finding out exactly where the problem lies. "The council's objective is to monitor every single accident, analyse its causes and find remedies," he explains. The council has, thus far, reached general estimates on the causes: human error (69 per cent), burst tyres (21 per cent) and defective road planning (10 per cent).
"Although defective road planning accounts for only a fraction of all accident causes, tackling it is a top priority," El-Demiri says, adding that a large number of black spots have already been detected, remedies have been determined and their implementation is well under way.
What about highways? "They have also been a major concern," El-Demiri maintains. In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, prior to taking his post as a minister, El-Demiri lamented that "Egypt does not have highways in the true sense of the word because a highway should not have intersections."
El-Demiri has already invited the private sector to build seven new highways in accordance with international standards; bids have been made for three of them. "Encouraging the private sector to invest in high-standard motorways is the only way we can upgrade their quality and decrease fatalities," he says.
Asked whether he has further plans to combat traffic problems in Cairo, El-Demiri admits that "the only way to solve traffic congestion in Cairo is to upgrade public transportation to persuade people to leave their cars at home. This, in addition to the application of highly restricted parking and land-use policies, would streamline traffic gridlock." To put theory into practice, the ministry is launching a comprehensive public transportation master plan in cooperation with Japan, which is also the financier. "The plan will take ten years to prepare and implement," according to El-Demiri. Meanwhile, transportation's star, the underground metro, continues to expand.
The many projects on the minister's agenda, if implemented, are likely to give Egypt a transportation facelift. Clearly, involving the private sector in the field of transportation is one of El-Demiri's main strategies to provide funds for his ambitious plans. "Building new highways and airports is too costly for the government to finance."
Are these plans too ambitious? Perhaps. For his part, El-Demiri spends 12 hours a day at the office, trying to implement the new strategy. Will the private sector respond?
"Wish us luck," a smiling El-Demiri says.
