The Luxor bazaar has just received a facelift but, as Mahmoud Bakr finds out, not everyone is happy The city of Luxor has been undergoing major renovations in the last few months: the bazaar lies at the centre of a large-scale project aimed at upgrading the souq opposite Al-Mahatta Street at a cost of LE10 million ($1.7 million). "For decades," says Samir Farag, city council director, "the souq has been the main shopping area in Luxor. And yet most of the shops were poorly built, some were definite fire hazards. Once the project is finished, now, the market will have temple-like gates, a pavement of engraved concrete, designer lighting and wooden pergolas." Shop owners were requested to redecorate their windows to evoke the historical significance of the street; the buildings will be repainted, too, and new electricity, phone, water and fire alarm systems will be installed. At the same time public spaces will be redesigned: the Abul-Hajjaj Mosque and Um Kulthoum squares, for example, will be expanded to include modern-style cafeterias and public lavatories. The Savoy Complex, on the other hand, an LE15 million project, will be Luxor's first shopping mall, with three floors, 48 shops and several restaurants. All of which is not to mention tearing down old shops to afford a better view of the Luxor Temple. According to Farag, "the shopkeepers in question have been given leases on low-rent shops at the new complex." Several of those shopkeepers, however, are complaining. Abdel-Nasser Salem, owner of Al-Hussein Restaurant, used to pay LE575 for 240 sq m behind the temple; now he will be paying LE1,175 for 110 sq m: "It's not fair. The new place is depressing and I haven't been getting any customers. The old place was near the temple entrance, so I had great business going." Today tour guides avoid bringing tourists into the complex, he says, for fear of too much hassle on the part of shopkeepers. But Mustafa Al-Azab Hassan, a shopkeeper who has recently moved into the complex, is no happier: "since setting up four months ago I haven't been selling more than five per cent of what I used to sell. My rent went up from LE105 to LE250, that's all. Mansour Abdel-Basset, another shopkeeper, believes financial compensation would have been more effective: "no one is making any money. One shopkeeper was so discouraged that he actually turned his second-floor shop into a mosque." At least some shopkeepers, like Ragab Suleiman, are glad of the move. "The street used to be poorly cleaned and poorly lit. Now the project has made a big difference," he said.
