PM reviews plan to develop historical Southern Cairo

Egypt’s Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli on Wednesday presided over a meeting that reviewed a proposed plan for the development of the historical area of Southern Cairo.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Ayman Ashour, and team members entrusted with drawing up the plan, including experts and university planning, urban design and transport professors.

The prime minister stressed the state’s keenness on developing the Southern Cairo area as part of an overall plan to rehabilitate the historical and heritage destinations. He underlined keenness on preserving the unique character of the heritage in the area, according a press release posted on the Cabinet Facebook account.

For his part, Minister Ashour reviewed the major features of the proposed plan for developing Southern Cairo area.
A specialised academic team with broad experience has carefully been selected to come up with the best proposals for the development process, considering the historical dimensions of the area.

Preparations of the development plan started with understanding the historic and heritage background of the area, the nature of the site and the surrounding road network, then studying the key potential and elements of its historic uniqueness, as well as the main challenges, Ashour explained.

This has eventually led to an integrated vision for developing the historic area, he stressed.

The minister identified the scope of the targeted area for development, and its borders, with Al Fustat Road to the south, Fatimid and Khedive Cairo to the north, Moqqattam Mountain and the Autostrad Road to the east, and the Nile Corniche Road to the west.

The development plan covers the Historical Cairo, which was added to the UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

The potential challenges that would face the development work include a host of random non official markets, and the harm caused by underground water to the large graves area in the area, in addition to a high traffic density.

The proposed policies for the development of the historical Southern Cairo area include designing a development plan to support tourism in the area, constructing a network of green corridors that will help revive the heritage sites, as well as facelifting the residential areas.