Sign language

Lost in the labyrinth? Aline Kazandjian consults her map
Up until last year, a resident of Doqqi or Agouza could not just give her home address to a first-time visitor. Like most inhabitants of Cairo, she had to recite a paragraph of instructions that went something like this: "Come down Gam'at Al-Duwal Street, then make a U turn after the second gas station. You must keep going until you pass the second fruit stall. Come back down the same street, but make sure to keep the Shooting Club fence on your right. It's the building on the corner, above the bakery and the pharmacy."
Nowadays you can simply say 25, Mecca Street and the newly installed blessings called street signs will show the way.
The project is not costing the state a piastre. In fact, the government is making money from it. Contrary to what the efficiency and taste with which it was carried out may suggest, there was no need for foreign experts or even civil engineers. And it has taken only one year to complete. The enterprising spirit of a young businessman named Shahir El- Barati, coupled with the innovative spirit of Alexandria Governor Abdel-Salam El-Mahgoub, did the trick.
El-Barati is one of three brothers who own Grafilex, a company specialised in making signs for hospitals, banks, corporations and other institutions. In 1998 he came up with the idea of making signs carrying the names of streets, an all-but-extinct phenomenon in Egypt. In return, the company was granted an advertising concession for a period of ten years. "It's a combination of a new method of doing business and serving the community," said Hani Fayeq, one of the owners of Grafilex.
The small circle at the top of the sign-posts is reserved for advertising. But the company must put signs on all the streets of a conceded area, even if the advertising spots are not sold. The company is also responsible for the maintenance and repair of the signs during the 10-year period after which the project will be handed over to the government. In addition to the running costs of the project, the company pays annual fees to the government.
Grafilex's owners wanted to start in Alexandria. When they approached El-Mahgoub he welcomed the idea but first gave them the challenging task of implementing the project in Agami. The popular summer resort had no proper streets, let alone street signs. It was up to Sherif Osman the managing director of the project, along with his five scouts, to get the information from the residents and map out the whole area. "He gave us the most difficult test imaginable," said Osman. Most of the houses in this area were never registered. "The first person to build a house on the street named it after his family," Osman explained. Sometimes the different families had to meet in order to reach a compromise.
The Agami experiment was a success, however, and the company got the green light to put up signs in certain zones in Alexandria, which were completed last year. They were not allowed to apply the project on the Corniche because the Al-Ahram Corporation already had an advertising concession there.
In March 2000, agreements were signed with Dokki and Agouza districts in Cairo. The project also spread to Luxor, Banha and Assiut, although these areas are not as lucrative as others. So far, 3,500 signs have been put up.
Sherif Osman and his "Famous Five," whose number soon increased to 25, covered whole districts street by street. Cairo had up-to-date maps but Alexandria's most recent one dated back to the early 1980s. In Aswan, the last street map was drawn in 1943. After receiving a verbal agreement from the governor, the team hit the streets. They would spread out and compare notes at the end of the day. A computerised map would be drawn on the basis of the information gathered. The maps were then sent to the district administration to be approved. According to Osman, most public officials wanted to keep the company maps because their own maps were not as clear and comprehensive.
Then came the process of manufacturing and installing the signs. A special self-reflective, high-resistance paint is used for night vision. Each sign costs around LE600 to make. Daily surveillance teams check on appearance. "We do it for our image," explains Fayeq -- otherwise they would not find advertising customers.
Grafilex's biggest customer is Mobinil, the mobile telephone company, which is pumping more than LE2 million into the project as part of its advertising campaign. "Since we have to spend the money anyway, let us spend it on something that improves society," says Osman Sultan, president and CEO of Mobinil. "Large corporations should play their roles as citizens." The partnership seems to have worked all around: thanks mainly to Mobinil's support, Grafilex was able to carry out the project, and the advertising effect has been so positive that Mobinil is changing all its Moga signs, which advertise one of the company's brands, to Mobinil for a more generalised benefit.
Good business attracts competition, and another company started a similar project in Heliopolis. Grafilex is suing, because it claims to have patented the project. Still, "we are happy that at least we pushed others to work along the same lines," says Fayeq. Imitation, after all, is the sincerest form of flattery.
The biggest winner, however, may be the public. Abbas Abdel-Hadi, a taxi driver, is one of those who have benefited from the signs. "Even if a customer comes from Upper Egypt asking for an address I can follow the signs and take him where he wants without stopping and asking people in the street," he says. Tourists are among the other benefactors: they can now actually make sense of the maps they carry around.
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