Residents of the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh expressed joy and optimism about the new look of the city due to Egypt’s hosting of COP27.
Sharm el-Sheikh was given a facelift after the development projects that were carried out in preparation for the climate summit.
Resident Seham Ali said that she was amazed by the speedy shift in the look of the city, hoping that the development will continue as “this will largely affect a tourist city like Sharm el-Sheikh”.
“It is a great benefit for us as residents of Sharm because more development means more tourists and more tourists mean more jobs and more revenues,” she told The Egyptian Gazette.
Mohamed Fouad, manager of a restaurant in the city’s old market, said that seeing a great number of tourists this winter season gave him hope that the city would return to its former glory as a city crowded with tourists.
He added that since 2005, the old market has not witnessed this diversity of nationalities.
“We hope that the climate conference will restore confidence in tourism and Egypt and restore security in our city,” he said.
Sharm el-Sheikh has witnessed the construction of the largest electric charging station and natural gas charging stations for a fleet of 135 buses operating with electricity and natural gas, in addition to the construction of a tourist walkway with a length of 6 kilometres, as well as stations for bicycles and scooters on electronic payment systems.
South Sinai Governor Khaled Fouda said Sharm el-Sheikh is at its best in preparation for the climate conference and that what is being done in the city is an achievement by all standards, as the state is making a great effort in a short time to finish preparing to receive the delegations participating in the conference.
The governor reviewed the most important projects and preparations for the climate summit, which are about 27 huge national projects, including the conversion of 13 fuel supply stations to natural gas and electric charging.
The governor said there is a comprehensive development, expansion and raising the efficiency of all roads in the city to accommodate conference delegates, in addition to adding new axes, roads and bridges for traffic flow events, saving time and cost for conference delegates.
He also pointed out that the city is transforming into a green, smart, environmentally-friendly city, and there are many steps and measures that have been taken for this, including providing a bicycle service with magnetic cards to serve delegations and city people, providing a green smart transport service by providing electric buses, using cars with natural gas and electricity, and operating hotels with solar energy.
Enas Samir, Deputy Governor of South Sinai, added that there are 24 smart stops for electric buses operating in Sharm, noting that the electric and gas-powered buses are supported by the electronic payment system and electronic collection in all fare transactions.
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