In 1977, President
Anwar Sadat attempted to address the ills of Cairo—pollution,
density, and unemployment—with decentralization. President Gamal
Nasser’s plan to start four satellite cities had largely failed.
Sadat aimed to create new communities and cities out of reach of
Cairo and Alexandria where new economic bases and jobs could be
created. Sadat’s government put in place economic incentives like
temporary tax-free exportation, cheap land, and government subsidies,
and constructed ring road to contain Cairo’s massive growth.
Nasser’s Greater Cairo Region Master Scheme was back on the map.
The creation of
desert cities began with Tenth of Ramadan, Sixth of October and El
Sadat City and has continued with new cities and suburbs closer to
Cairo like El-Rehab, El Shorouk City and Katameya
Heights. Additional desert cities and compounds have been
attempted—some successfully, while others have been left abandoned.
Sadat’s vision of decentralization, complete with
manufacturing-based towns with diverse populations and adequate
investment, has not been fully realized, but decentralization has
finally begun to take place more swiftly. Tired of the noise
and traffic, the Egyptian upper and middle classes are seeking
individual homes and larger apartments outside the city, even the
upper lower class is starting to call these cities surrounded by
desert home, too.
El-Rehab:
Roger Badawi, a
pharmacist in Cairo, offers this advice to residents of Cairo, who
are thinking of moving to the suburbs: “You’ll feel safe, have
less stress, more fun. There are more places to park out here, more
space.”
Badawi lives in
El-Rehab City. Built to accommodate a minimum of 200,000 residents,
it has its own City Hall, police and security headquarters. Unlike
Cairo’s mass of flats and apartments, villas can be found in this
more widely spaced area. While the high price of living outside the
city has curtailed mass migration, Badawi doesn’t see the price tag
of his villa as especially hindering.
“My home in Rehab
is more expensive—maybe double the price of my old apartment in
Heliopolis, but it’s worth it,” Badawi said.
Badawi lives with
his mother and makes the long commute everyday into the city. “It
takes about an hour and a half to get to work,” Badawi said.
“Sometimes it takes two hours due to the traffic jam inside Cairo.”
Badawi hates the
commute but says he saves time living in El-Rehab because of the
convenience of a planned city. “Places are not far from each
other…you don’t need a car,” Badawi said. “In Heliopolis, I’d
never be able to find a place to park my car at the supermarket.”
Badawai is among
many former Cairene residents who have now moved outside the city.
While Badawi commutes into Cairo, many other residents are finding
their lives based primarily outside of the capital city.
6th of
October:
“I live in 6th
of October for the convenience,” resident Faisal Mualla said. “I
go to university there, and only go to downtown Cairo twice a week to
hang out with my friends. Anything you possibly could need is in 6th
of October.”
With a population
of 500,000 people, there is little to be found in Cairo that isn’t
found in 6th of October. It contains the much revered
El-Hossary Mosque, as well as many well-known universities including:
the Modern Sciences and Arts University, 6th of October
University, Misr University for Science and Technology, and Ahram
Canadian University. The city is the capital of the 6th
of October Governorate and is a well-planned residential and
commercial city with many restaurants, shops, tourist-catered hotels,
clubs, Smart City Complex and even Dream Park, Egypt’s most famous
amusement park.
It is a commuter
town—in both directions. Workers often come from Cairo while there
are many residents work in Cairo and live in 6th of
October on a part or full-time basis. While the city has not been
the remedy to unemployment in Cairo, it has been a solution to some
of Cairo’s inefficiency. For years, Rod El Farag in Shubra was a
wholesale agricultural market. Produce, which often went bad, was
brought in on huge trucks, which blocked streets. The government was
sure to set up a wholesale agricultural market within 6th of October
as well as other surrounding cities to solve the problem of Rod El
Farag. Media Production City, the largest media information complex
built, is also situated there.
Mualla, originally
from Baghdad, likes 6th of October because of the
diversity of nationalities that have flocked to the developing city.
“There are Egyptians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Saudis, Kuwaitis, and
Syrians, as well as people from Lebanon and the UAE,” Mualla said.
“There are actually people from all over the world.”
As the immigration
of people to 6th of October has increased, so has the
value of land. “Sixth of October is constantly developing—there
are more cafes, restaurants, and malls everyday,” Mualla said.
El-Shorouk:
The
decentralization trend has also populated less developed suburbs. El
Shorouk City is located along the Cairo-Ismailia Desert Road. It
boasts the British University in Cairo, as well as some of the
suburbs’ most gorgeous residential compounds. Only 20-30 minutes
away from Heliopolis, El Shorouk’s location can’t be beat.
Resident George Albert, like many residents, moved because of Cairo’s
pollution and traffic. The traffic is so bad in Cairo, that to get
to his job he spent longer traveling within the city than he does now
commuting to downtown from El Shorouk.
“It takes me 35
to 40 minutes to get to work. I think it’s very good. It used to
take me one hour or more when I lived in Ain Shams,” Albert said.
“Shorouk is a new place, but I think it will be a perfect place in
the future because there are many people moving here. It’s
becoming more developed every day. There are many new compounds.
It’s only getting better as Cairo gets worse.”
Katameya:
Triz Boutros, a
resident of Katameya, also believes that her neighborhood is only
improving. “I moved to Katameya because it was quiet and
peaceful—and the apartments were well priced. Since then, there
has been a huge, maybe 40% increase in the price of apartments in
Katameya,” Boutros said. “Katameya has a good future. It already
has good international schools for the children and excellent
transportation.”
Known for its golf
club and family atmosphere, Katameya is constantly developing, as is
the cost of living there. If your family would like to rent a home
there, expect to pay anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000 USD a month.
Boutros says that there are areas of Katameya, which are less
expensive.
“Katameya is
pretty diverse. There are upper, middle and upper lower class areas.
The upper class areas have the most impressive villas and are well
laid-out in general. The lower class areas are less aesthetically
pleasing but are still very nice and tend to be much cheaper.”
Boutros still goes
into Cairo to visit friends and family. The isolation of Egyptian
suburbs and satellite cities can be problematic for many new
residents. Albert lives with his wife, who was not always fond of
the move. “My wife did not like how far she was from her friends
in Ain Shams. She liked being in the city, around her close friends
and family. Shorouk is more private, but after living here, she has
changed her mind and likes it much better now.”
Badawi likes the
privacy of living in a more secluded place, especially the lack of
densely populated apartments. Unlike Cairo, neighbors are not
constantly in earshot.
“In El-Rehab, I don’t know my
neighbors very well,” Badawi said. “I only know my next door
neighbor because by chance he knew my father. It’s nice knowing
your neighbors, but I prefer privacy. I have my own privacy in
El-Rehab.”
Badawi wants to raise a family in
El-Rehab’s quiet and clean environment. “I would feel more
comfortable, safer for my kids to go to their schools. They can go
wherever they like without me having to worry about their health or
safety. It’s easier to breathe out here. I want them to have that
too.”
While the decentralization trend seems
to be realizing many past and current leaders aims for improving
Cairo, and to a lesser extent Alexandria, will it also further
strengthen the class divide? In the West, the move to the suburbs
meant many cities became hot beds for only poor communities—leaving
their public school systems and other facilities without money, and
creating day cities—places where people work in the day. The
question is whether only the lower class will be left in the capital
city in the future. While Cairo has exploded with urbanization and
anyone who has sat in traffic can attest it cannot take much more
immigration, Cairo’s character and vibrance could face worse
hardship—the introduction of suburbia.
6th of October photos by
Catherine Bilkey
El-Rehab, El-Shorouk and Madinaty
photos courtesy of Talat Group.
