THE INFAMOUS beaurocratic behemoth in Cairo's main square may eventually become a thing of the past, now that government officials are taking the first steps towards emptying out Mugamma Al-Tahrir, a 55-year-old Soviet-style building housing some 15,000 civil servants. The larger goal, writes Mohamed El-Sayed, is easing downtown congestion. Perhaps the biggest governmental services compound in Africa and the Middle East, the Mugamma's 14 floors and 1,200 rooms are visited by about 20,000 people a day seeking out various official signatures and stamps. The idea of getting rid of the Mugamma emerged in 2000, when the cabinet agreed on an ambitious plan to ease traffic jams by moving downtown governmental departments out of the city centre. Late in 2005, Cairo Governor Abdel-Azim Wazir formed a committee to explore ways to do just that. Although Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif has said that he would like to see the Mugamma turned into a five-star hotel, it is thus far unclear what authorities will do with the huge building once the employees have been relocated elsewhere. The wisdom behind the original establishment of the massive complex involved bringing together as many governmental service offices in one place in order to help people save time and effort. Over the years, however, the ever-increasing number of people frequenting the building made that a nearly impossible task. According to its director, Lieutenant Mahmoud Yassin, despite the tremendous amount of money that has been spent to maintain and operate the compound, it has failed to cater to the ever-increasing needs of both its employees and the public using its services. The cabinet's ambitious traffic reduction plan also calls for the relocation of other downtown governmental offices to the outskirts of the city. A significant portion of the staff at the Radio and Television Building in Maspero, for instance, will be moved to the 6 October Media Production City. Only those responsible for operating studios will remain in the 46-year-old, cake-shaped building on the Nile Corniche, just a few hundred metres from the Mugamma.
