ENVIRONMENT-EGYPT: Grass Greener Now on This Side

By Cam McGrath Reprint | | Print |

Cam McGrath

CAIRO, May 17 2002 (IPS) - A lush park being laid over a centuries old rubbish dump is set to uplift the looks of Cairo, and one of its poorest neighbourhoods.

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture has begun to plant vegetation on a 30-hectare stretch of land between Cairo’s Islamic quarter and the “City of the Dead”, a sprawling mediaeval cemetery. The hilly site has been a dumping area. The city police force had its stables here.

This is now being turned into the Al-Azhar park. “The park (is intended to) work as a catalyst for development of this historic area, which was neglected for quite a long time,” general manager of the trust Dr. Mohammed el-Mikawi told IPS.

The consultancy firm Sites International is designing the park around the existing topography. Pathways will be laid along the present contours and lined with trees. Its central feature will be geometrically planted orchards and walkways typical of classical Islamic gardens. The park will have a children’s playground, community centre, water channels, and a two-hectare artificial lake.

The park due to open in fall 2003 is expected to bring jobs and business for people in the neighbourhood, improve living conditions and instil civic pride. More importantly, the park project and associated programmes are interacting with the community.

“With strong institutional support and active management of the residents’ capacity for direct intervention, the social fabric can become the engine driving the rehabilitation efforts,” says Francesco Sivaro, senior project officer with the Historic Cities Support Programme (HCSP), a branch of the Aga Khan trust.

“Paramount is the conviction that, in the long run, community involvement is the best means of achieving lasting results,” Sivaro says.

But the Park will seek to attract wealthier visitors to sustain itself, says Mikawi. About 1.5 million visitors a year are expected at the park but “our feasibility studies showed that entrance fees would not generate enough income to sustain the park,” he says.

Income-generating facilities within the park will include a lakeside cafe, a ‘five-star’ restaurant and a commercial plaza. These will attract visitors and also offer opportunities to local businesses, Mikawi says.

Restoration of the 1.5-kilometre mediaeval city wall to the west of the park has presented an additional challenge to developers. For centuries, houses have encroached on the 12th century Ayyubid wall. Some houses are built on top of it.

“Working on the historic wall has led to major talks on how to deal with the neighbourhood,” says Mikawi. “This led to the question: if we’re restoring the historic wall, then what are we to do with the houses?”

The HSCP objected to local government demands for demolition of all houses within 30 metres of the wall. “Selective removal of encroaching elements is being undertaken, but a wholesale demolition of the historic housing stock attached to the city wall would contradict today’s prevailing international conservation philosophy and practice, and might introduce undesirable and dangerous development pressures,” says HSCP director Stefano Bianca.

The biggest challenge facing park developers is that now one of the most run-down neighbourhoods in Cairo will suddenly become prime real estate. Crumbling houses that once faced a mound of rubble will overlook a vast green space. Trust managers say this could lead to property speculation.

“Unless held in check and properly channelled through a conscious planning effort, speculative pressure may soon result in a pattern of uncontrolled development in the area, leading to the expulsion of both the current residents and the existing activities, and thus paving the way for a total substitution of the traditional urban fabric,” Siravo warned in a project report last year.

The Trust is working with house and shop owners in the facing Darb al-Ahmar area to restore their buildings, repair leaky plumbing and remove rubbish piles from the city wall. Local labour is being favoured for the restoration work. Many residents have benefited from community programmes and micro-loans.

Trust managers are also liaising with local administrators to enforce zoning regulations aimed at minimising speculation. A two-storey limit has been imposed to prevent property developers tearing down historic buildings and replacing them with high-rises.