New beginnings

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Sixth of October bridge was expanded several times in an effort to solve Cairo's chronic traffic problem

To salvage a city River under threat Can they do wrong?

The idea of moving the capital was proposed as early as 1972 by several urban planners. Professor Mohamed Abbas El-Zaafarani, professor of urban planning at Al-Azhar University and the former head of the Urban Planning Association told Al-Ahram Weekly : "We spent years studying the idea of establishing a new capital at the Urban Planning Association, with discussions involving economists, social scientists and others with relevant expertise."

El-Zaafarani, father to Professor Abbas El-Zaafarrani quoted in the main story, had dealt with the idea ooof relocating the capital to Al-Minya Al-Gadida in his PhD Thesis and is one of the strongest advocates of a new administrative capital. "We want to move but with a new vision. It is not just about the place but about policies and the problem of centralising everything in Cairo," he says. El-Zaafarani believes Al-Minya Al-Gadida is the right place for the new capital. It is close to the Governorate of Minya and not far from Cairo, with which it already has rail links.

"Other options such as Alexandria, Suez or Port Said have the same problems as Cairo. But Minya is a well planned city which will facilitate the servicing of Al-Minya Al-Gadida," he argues. Sobhi Abdel-Hakim, a professor of social geography at Ain Shams University has already pointed out that the location of the Egyptian capital has changed 17 times in history, moving from Alexandria to Aswan and places between.

The aim, El-Zaafarani stresses, is to supplement rather than replace Cairo.

"Cairo will remain the centre of economic activity while the new capital will be the political centre. It is similar to the division between New York and Washington." He also believes that the new capital should be no more than 250kms away from Cairo.

"Instead of spending LE500 million on bridges, and more than one billion on a single tunnel, Al-Azhar, and now they are talking about filling in the Nile -- all of these are only temporary solutions to the problems facing central Cairo. Instead, we could start a new capital with the right planning."