In my last blog I detailed the webpage that helps people track individual promises made by Mohamed Morsi, new President of Egypt. Among these promises were lofty expectations of how to improve traffic in the capital city Cairo and how to address the increasing problem with rubbish.
According to RSN news, it seems that Hurghada may be the initial testing ground for these promises. First up, restricted hours for the rubbish trucks to monitor the streets and actually remove the waste. (I hope this happens...the rubbish in Hurghada in the past years has grown to astronomical proportions. It's disgusting).
Alongside this, with an estimated budget of 15 million LE surveillance camera's are to be strategically placed throughout the city to combat theft, and for those placed on traffic signals to reduce speeding and breaking of traffic laws (I think there will be a few drivers who need refresher courses).
In addition, Hurghada's flour rations will be increased to provide more bread to the province, and the bakeries will have their work strictly monitored. Fuel rations will also be increased to the province - with nothing being said about fuel subsidies.
So, if Hurghada is the testing ground for this it is news to my ears. Of course they have to try to run such implementation programmes in a province that is already fairly "modern" and already has some semblance of order before trying to impose it in Cairo. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be able to report positive changes coming out of the Red Sea with indications of positive changes for the rest of the country!
According to RSN news, it seems that Hurghada may be the initial testing ground for these promises. First up, restricted hours for the rubbish trucks to monitor the streets and actually remove the waste. (I hope this happens...the rubbish in Hurghada in the past years has grown to astronomical proportions. It's disgusting).
Alongside this, with an estimated budget of 15 million LE surveillance camera's are to be strategically placed throughout the city to combat theft, and for those placed on traffic signals to reduce speeding and breaking of traffic laws (I think there will be a few drivers who need refresher courses).
In addition, Hurghada's flour rations will be increased to provide more bread to the province, and the bakeries will have their work strictly monitored. Fuel rations will also be increased to the province - with nothing being said about fuel subsidies.
So, if Hurghada is the testing ground for this it is news to my ears. Of course they have to try to run such implementation programmes in a province that is already fairly "modern" and already has some semblance of order before trying to impose it in Cairo. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be able to report positive changes coming out of the Red Sea with indications of positive changes for the rest of the country!
Refresher courses for Egyptian drivers? Have you actually met an Egyptian that did a driving course? I lived in Hurghada for 10 years and I have not. I heard that they exist, somewhere, but everyone I know just paid for the license. That is, there is a reason why there is almost no traffic signs - nobody knows them anyway - and drivers think it is safe to drive with lights off during the night. =/
ReplyDeleteSadly.. Anonymous has a point. If Hurghada does become a testing ground, it will be interesting how they judge the success or failure of such a program, since we know most drivers here will ignore it.
ReplyDeletePeople may surprise us (at least a few of them). While rubbish continues to be an issue, it is still no where near as bad as it was pre-revolution. Most places I walked before to the crunch crunch of rubbish under my feet, are now on sand. While not as clean as it was during the initial excitement of cleaning up the city, it is still improved.
Maybe there is hope for other things as well.