Egypt's National Authority for Tunnels said on Sunday that a small land subsidence took place in Zamalek by a building in Brazil Street, but denied that the nearby construction of a Cairo metro extension had caused the building to partially collapse. “A small land subsidence at one of the corners of building number 17 in Brazil Street in Zamalek as well as a subsidence at the front and external fence of the Bahraini embassy beside it took place," read the statement. The building is located next to the ongoing excavation work to extend the metro's third line into Zamalek. Residents of the building, who were evacuated, said they feared it might collapse. Photos and videos were shared online showing cracks inside the building and a small subsidence outside the building and the Bahraini embassy, amid anger from the residents. The authority said that engineering officials had been deployed to secure the building. The residents were given EGP 30,000 each in order to find a temporary residence until they are able to return to the building, according the authority, which said that it was conducting studies to ensure the safety of the building. Cairo Governor Khaled Abdel Aal ordered the evacuation of the building following the news. He also ordered the formation of an engineering committee to check the building. According to the governor's statement, a preliminary inspection showed that the 12-floor building had suffered some damage and vertical cracks, as well as the subsistence in its garage, and in addition to the subsistence under the neighbouring Bahraini embassy's fence. The governor also said that the building is made of two sections, one overlooking Brazil Street with 37 residential units, including 16 currently occupied, and a second section overlooking Aziz Abaza Street, with 33 units, 28 of which are currently occupied. The health ministry sent three ambulances to the area as a precaution, but no injuries have been reported. Since the announcement that the extension of the third metro line would pass through Zamalek, many residents of the upscale district have expressed their concerns, including about the impact of the construction on the island's older buildings. The incident on Sunday revived those concerns once again. “The Zamalek Association reminds all Zamalek residents that, back in 2016, we had a meeting with the head of the Tunnel Authority and we presented a list of nine technical queries prepared by our colleague and expert, Dr. Mohsen Baligh, requesting an answer to the fears and concerns of Zamalek residents. Their technical team promised to reply and three weeks later we were sent a CD of six hundred pages of the technical data of the whole project, irrelevant to our queries,” commented the Zamalek Association, a local civil society group. The association said that it had replied in a formal letter that the tunnel authority's cooperation was insufficient and it objected in the most serious terms, but that “it never heard from them again.” The metro's extended third line will pass from the Attaba district in Downtown Cairo through the island and via a new Zamalek stop, on to the densely populated district of Imbaba on the Giza side of the Nile.
