March 09, 2013
Transport, potable water, electricity
and sewage networks in Cairo and across Egypt are in desperate need of development
and upgrading. While some recent accidents have highlighted the poor state of this
network—take for example the numerous train accidents in recent months and
their high human cost—the state has turned a blind eye and because of the lack
of accountability and the current political uncertainty no long or short term
solutions to such fundamental infrastructural problems have been initiated.
The spectrum of political parties on
the scene since Egypt’s 2011 uprising has not demonstrated any serious
engagement with physical infrastructural needs of Egyptian cities in their
political programs. The present situation, however, is alarming, and while the
Mubarak regime carried out infrastructure project haphazardly lacking a
comprehensive vision, this approach to governance and building cannot be afforded
in the years to come.
Although the level and accessibility of
basic services in Cairo is remarkable for a city its size, especially
considering the minimal investment and development of infrastructure, a crisis
is approaching. Not only has pressure on existing systems been continuously
increased, entire new areas have developed in recent years in a process of real
estate speculation that has produced millions of uninhabited square meters of
residential space in the interstitial spaces between the core city and desert
extensions. Desert cities also exert a new pressure on infrastructure systems,
which have been planned in a way that favors these new low-density (and
primarily wealthy) areas with a high margin for waste, particularly in water
systems. Additionally these new cities lack a fundamental infrastructural
component: transport. What will happen when these thousands of currently empty apartments
and houses in these new satellite neighborhoods are occupied with families? These
car-dependent residents will exert a huge amount of pressure on the Cairo’s
road network as they drive from far-flung desert cities, accessible only by car.
In addition, massive swaths of
self-built districts on previously agricultural land largely rely on
infrastructure that was not designed for dense urban areas. Immediate
intervention and upgrading is necessary in such areas to provide not only
better access to drinking water and sewage but also appropriate services such
as health and educational facilities. In short, the task of confronting Egypt’s
and Cairo infrastructural challenge is pressing and difficult, but it also
presents opportunities for development, employment, skill-training, and overall
improvement of quality of life.
Improving streets and sidewalks, long
neglected by the state and international donors, is a basic infrastructural
project that would have a universally positive impact on urban life. A
well-kept system of streets and sidewalks has not been a priority for infrastructural
development despite its potential improvement impact and its low costs.
Improving sidewalks in urban Egypt will reduce traffic congestion and travel
time, reduce reliance on vehicles, and foster a sense of community. Egyptian
cities, despite the relatively low percentage car-ownership (only 14 percent of
households owning cars in Cairo), are not pedestrian-friendly places. In
addition newly urbanized “informal districts” often lack not only sidewalks but
also paved streets.
Similarly, there is a tremendous need
for an upgraded public transport network in metropolitan areas. While plans
have been in the pipeline for an expanded underground train network in Cairo
and the introduction of an underground system in Alexandria, these projects
have been either stalled or are being implemented at such an excruciatingly
slow rate that they miss the opportunity of having a measured impact by their
planned time of completion. It is important to note that the cost of building
an underground system in Egypt continues to be relatively cheap compared to
international standards, costing roughly one-tenth per kilometer of the cost in
Europe or North America.
Transport hubs must be established to
the east and west of Cairo’s city-center to link the capital with the desert
cities beyond. Abbasiyya, for instance, could serve as a transport hub linking
Cairo with New Cairo to the east; Munib could link Giza with 6th of
October City to the west. Although proposals have been made in the past as part
of the pompous and deeply flawed Cairo 2050 vision, such visions were never
translated into actual plans and they largely denied the existence of complex
communities and conditions in the locations of such envisioned interventions.
What is perhaps more important than
specific recommendations for infrastructure projects beyond improving transport
and walkability, health and educational facilities and maintaining a sufficient
network of utilities, is the need to confront Egypt’s soft infrastructure, the
institutions required to maintain and manage hard infrastructure such as roads
and utility networks. These institutions, particularly the municipality, are key
to reducing the gap between the state and citizens. Without rigorous
reconfiguration of the state institutions responsible for conceiving,
implementing and managing hard infrastructure projects, future development will
fail to confront the challenges on the ground.
For the last four decades, development
and infrastructure projects have lacked key aspects of successful and
long-lasting development: a culture of maintenance, quality control, and
accountability. Rather than schedule periodical maintenance into development
projects, the state has tended to build facilities; roads and bridges then
nearly abandon them until a crisis, collapse or accident takes place. Similarly
standards for building materials and finishes have not been strictly monitored
and regulated and often budgets of public sector projects are wasted on
expensive finishing materials, such as granite, which are not necessary or
functionally practical. However due to the absence of accountability such
missteps go unchallenged.
But perhaps the single most important
reform needed to bring a radical positive transformation to urban Egypt,
including the better planning of its needed infrastructure, is the rebuilding
of local municipal councils. Currently, planning and infrastructure projects
miss the mark. In every urban and rural community in Egypt there are leading
figures that can take an active role in local government to represent the
interests of their communities. But such
figures are shut out from policy making. Instead local government
administrations have acted as tentacles of central government control. Communities
on the local level must have proper channels to connect with central government
regarding matters that affect their daily lives, from transport to utilities. The
rebuilding of local councils will not only lead to more efficient
infrastructure planning but will also reduce the political tension between the
state and local communities.
There isn’t an easy prescription for
how to mend the cities in a country that has suffered from decades of
neglectful rule and minimal planning intervention. Egyptian cities and towns
need not a top-down “renaissance project” or an ill-conceived vision for the
future. Design alone won’t fix Egypt’s urban and infrastructural needs. Rather,
there must be a serious reconsideration of the place of communities and citizens
as participants in the built environment. Without sound policy and a fundamental
shift in political will from authorities, lofty ideas and proposals will yet
again melt into thin air.
Mohammed
Elshahed is the founding editor of the Cairobserver, a publication on Egypt’s architectural heritage and urban
planning. He is a doctoral student in the Middle East and Islamic Studies
Department at New York University. He has written for the Egypt Independent, Jadaliyya, Design Observer, and Al Jazeera English. On Twitter:
@Cairobserver.