Underground unresolved
Will the opening of a new garage in Tahrir Square help solve downtown Cairo's chronic parking problems? Reem Nafie tries to find out
With several ministries, the Arab League headquarters, the Egyptian Museum, the American University in Cairo (AUC), the Mogamma', a number of 5-star hotels and the popular Omar Makram mosque all located in Tahrir Square, parking around Cairo's main central square has always been a problem.
In an attempt to resolve the issue, two underground parking garages have been in the works for a while now. Inaugurated by Prime Minister Atef Ebeid last week, Tahrir Garage Two is the first of the two structures to be completed. Built under a 4000 square metre garden featuring a statue of 19th century luminary Omar Makram, the new garage is smaller than Tahrir Garage One, the more ambitious of the two projects, which is set to also feature four cinemas and a mall.
The immense Garage One -- which should be completed by the end of this year -- is located on the opposite end of the square, in front of the Egyptian Museum, and will have room for 2,700 cars and 60 buses.
The newly completed Garage Two's capacity, meanwhile, is only 640 cars.
Garage Two was built by the private sector Tahrir Investment Company for Garages using the BOT (Build- Operate-Transfer) system, which allows the company to rake in the garage's profits for the coming 25 years, before transferring it to Cairo governorate.
Arab Contractors handled the garage's construction, while Arab Contractors for Maintenance and Services (ACMS) are responsible for the garage's maintenance, cleanliness and services.
Although Cairo governorate officials are very enthusiastic about the project, promising that it will solve downtown's parking problems, others are not so sure.
"There is no way the parking problem in Tahrir will ever end," said 'Amm Mohamed, a car attendant who has been working in Tahrir Square for the past 20 years. "The governorate needs to build five garages before even thinking the problem will be solved. In the morning there are too many cars for just one or two garages to accommodate."
ACMS engineer Ahmed Lotfi, meanwhile, defended the project, arguing that it was only natural for car attendants to belittle the idea since it was certain to cut into their livelihood.
Although the garage is currently still in a test phase -- with no date set for its official start of operations -- observers think the real test will only be in the fall, when students head back to university. According to Mohamed Fahmy, owner of El-Gamaa' Garage, which is located close to AUC, "a 640-car capacity garage isn't enough" to meet the demand of thousands of AUC students, the vast majority of whom have cars.
"But still," Fahmy said, "I have to admit that if the garage's rates are cheap, a lot of our customers will abandon us -- not because our service is bad, but because people always like to try something new."
The owners of the much larger El-Bustan Garage are also worried about the competition, especially in light of the increasing complaints from their customers that El-Bustan's constant rate hikes have already reached LE1.65 per hour.
Although the new garage's manager refused to disclose Tahrir Garage Two's rates, informed sources said they would range between LE3 to LE3.5 per hour.
That was a shockingly high figure for Mohamed El-Arabi, an economic researcher at the nearby Ministry of Foreign Trade. "I park my car in Tahrir and walk two streets to work everyday because there is no place to park on Adly Street," he said. "I was very happy to discover the new garage, until I was told it would cost LE3 per hour, which is way too much. Who can afford to pay LE20 a day?"
Mogamma' employee Khalifa Saleh agreed. "Who is the government targeting with these kinds of fares?" he asked. "Who do they expect will pay that kind of money to park their car?"
Perhaps then, despite the relative advantages of Tahrir Garage One -- including the fact that it is air-conditioned -- the older garages shouldn't be too worried about their customers migrating after all.
