21 - 27 December 2000
Issue No.513
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 21 - 27 December 2000 Issue No.513 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Determined to fight gridlock
By Gihan Shahine
Driving in Cairo is never a pleasant prospect. With the rain factor added, the city can resemble a disaster area.
Heavy rainfall has engulfed the capital three times in the past few weeks, causing horrendous traffic jams on the streets. It was, though, on 8 December, a Friday, that traffic turned into a real nightmare: a torrential downpour inundated streets at the peak hour of 3.00pm, and roads were turned into virtual ponds. Motorists, attempting to outmanoeuvre the waters, tried to stick to the side of the road with the least amount of water, driving over footpaths and sidewalks, which resulted in gridlock. Streets were chockablock with cars for at least three hours, while those heading for a weekend Iftar at the homes of relatives and friends had no choice but to break their fast on the streets.
Since then, the press has howled about the capital's woes, sparking off a heated debate over the importance and urgency of establishing an efficient rain drainage network.
In an interview following the first week of the downpour, Mohamed Said, head of the Sanitary Sewage Authority, told Al - Ahram Weekly: "The capital is not really in need of a drainage network, but rather of giant water-siphoning trucks." Said based his argument on two factors: Cairo has a dry climate, and the establishment of a drainage network is very costly.
Said opined that the establishment of a rain drainage network would cost the government millions of pounds, only to be used for a day or two each year, although "even a car accident can have a worse effect on the traffic situation."
A CNN report, quoting scientists studying climate change for the United Nations, warns that "the rise in emissions of gases that trap heat in the atmosphere may cause the Earth's average temperature to rise 2 to 6 degrees over the next century." Such a rise, some scientists say, could mean dramatic shifts in rainfall patterns, more severe droughts and heat waves, a rise in sea-levels and a spread of tropical diseases.
Some scientists thus predict that Egypt, and the Middle East region as a whole, will witness a higher incidence of rainfall over the coming years -- which means that a rain drainage network is no luxury. To this should be added the fact that traffic jams resulting from an arguably few days of rain may yet cost even more than a drainage network in terms of work delay, car breakdowns, accidents and possible loss of life resulting from traffic-stuck ambulances.
"Establishing a rain drainage network in Cairo is a must, even if it only rains for one day," Cairo Governor Abdel-Rehim Shehata says, rebutting Said's argument. "That Egypt's weather is dry for the major part of the year is definitely not an excuse why we shouldn't establish such a network, and I don't believe it is that costly."
In 1997, in the aftermath of a heavy downpour that inflicted chaos on Cairo's main streets, the government assigned the Ministry of Housing and New Communities to establish a drainage network at a cost of LE125 million. The plan gave priority to principal streets such as Salah Salem, Al-Khalifa Al-Maamoun, Corniche Al-Nil, Ter'at Al-Esmailia, Gisr Al-Suez, Al-Tayaran, Youssef Abbas and the Haikstep.
The plan also called for increasing the number of sewers in side- streets and providing municipalities with additional water- siphoning trucks.
A report issued by the Cairo Governorate, however, shows that only limited parts of this plan have been implemented. A drainage network has been established, covering only small areas of Al- Oruba Street (stretching for 12 kilometres from the airport to Al-Oruba Square), four kilometres of the Haikstep Road, and two kilometres of Gisr Al-Suez. A small number of sewers were installed at the intersections of Al-Oruba Street and Al-Tayaran, covering a distance of 50 metres. In Al-Khalifa Al-Maamoun, the drainage network has not been linked to the sewage system and, consequently, is not functioning.
"What we currently have is definitely not enough to cope with rainfalls, and we demand that the Ministry of Housing carry on with the drainage network plan," Shehata said. (The role of the governorate is confined to providing basic information on the infrastructure of roads and supervise work).
There are 6,300 sewers in Cairo, 85 per cent of which are functioning. The others are ill-maintained or clogged by accumulated dust. No wonder then that the capital's streets were inundated by the recent heavy downpour.
Shehata, however, is proud of the attempts he made to deal with the rain havoc, especially on 8 December.
"The downpour on that day was unprecedentedly heavy, almost equal to the volume of [Cairo's] annual rainfall," Shehata said. "What complicated matters further was that the rainfall occurred at a peak hour in Ramadan. Owing to high water in the lower parts of the streets, water seeped into the engines of small cars, causing them to break down and prevent the water-siphoning trucks from reaching the affected areas."
Some 44 water-siphoning trucks and 13 mobile water-siphoning engines were used to drain water, and 500 employees of the General Authority for the Cleanliness and Beautification of Cairo were employed to unclog sewers.
Without the establishment of a drainage network, however, these efforts are like pasting band-aids on an open wound. In addition, the governor adds, there is a need to change the design of sewers to avoid the accumulation of dust; to establish sewage networks in slum areas; to adjust street levels and increase the number of sewers and water-siphoning trucks. These are already on the governor's agenda.
"Our plan to install new sewers and adjust street levels goes parallel with the sidewalk project," Shehata said.
The plan's objective is to give pedestrians the chance for a safe walk on Cairo's streets. With the many encroachments over footpaths, pedestrians were pushed off sidewalks into the streets, where they had to battle for space with bumper-to-bumper cars.
"We have already started by building a number of sidewalks in main streets, especially in central Cairo and some under-privileged areas, which will all be equipped with ramps for disabled pedestrians," Shehata told the Weekly.
"Both pedestrians and motorists are given priority in our projects to relieve traffic congestion and establish parking areas in Cairo."
Shehata's ambitious plans, however, do not stop there. "To give Cairo a real facelift, we have several challenges to deal with: reducing the number of licensed cars in the capital, relocating ministries and public offices as well as cemeteries, to alleviate traffic congestion and attract residents out of Cairo, and removing the encroachments on the Nile banks," he said.
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