Out of the frying pan..

By Soha Abdelaty
Before and after government "upgrading"
photo: Ayman Ibrahim
When government officials start talking about ambitious development plans in working class districts, residents start to get worried. While projects like the renovations in Old Cairo are often held up as a fine example of how run-down areas can be scrubbed, revamped and spruced up, many other promising interventions are trumpeted and then quietly forgotten.
"We're considered dead people," says Abu Mohamed, a mechanic whose workshop is situated adjacent to the area that once housed the infamous Sayeda Zeinab slaughterhouse. Loathed by environmentalists and locals alike, the old slaughterhouse was a breeding ground for disease and pollution. Three years ago, the Cairo governor stepped in and ordered the place demolished, on the grounds that it posed a threat to the local community. Initially welcomed by residents, the move has done little to stem the tide of pollution. Today, Abu Mohamed's shop overlooks what has become a way station for local garbage, where the district's rubbish is collected before it is eventually transferred to a main garbage dump.
Piles of garbage now command the four-feddan area cleared by the governorate. At this moment, garbage trucks are emptying loads of trash into the dump, where putrid piles of refuse are being picked at by street animals and the odd camel wandering through the debris. Though the slaughterhouse was removed, many butchers continue to keep shop in the area and blood and animal parts strewn about invite flies and other insects in swarms. It's a far cry from the spacious garden promised by governorate officials when the slaughterhouse was first razed. "I have to buy two cans of fly spray every day just to get rid of these damn flies that are all over the place, thanks to all the garbage and the butchers. Visiting my doctor has become a weekly thing for me," says Abu Mohamed. "Sometimes I think we were better off when we had the slaughterhouse. At least it was contained by a wall," he muttered.
The tides have shifted among local residents who three years ago applauded the governor's decision to combine the slaughterhouse's activities with those of the main Cairo slaughterhouse in the Tunisy area. The Sayeda Zeinab slaughterhouse was deemed a liability, as the meat was slaughtered under unsanitary conditions and blood and animal by-products were routinely scattered around the area. Butchers, however, were loath to leave and police forces eventually had to be called in to forcibly remove all operations. The slaughterhouse was then demolished.
"It was almost impossible to remove," remembers Mohamed El-Husseini, general secretary of the Sayeda Zeinab district council. "It was like moving a fourth pyramid." Difficulties aside, the land was finally cleared and new plans to build a vast garden that would cover the whole four feddans were announced. Residents eagerly awaited the greenery and public space, but days, then months passed and no work had begun on the promised garden.
The slaughterhouse is brought down and a garbage dump takes it's place
Time passed and eventually, it was decided that the governorate would seek out a "more appropriate" project for the area. El-Husseini says that plans were drawn up to start work on the project, "but we soon realised that the area was unsuitable for a public garden. The residents would never be able to maintain it. They will just throw their garbage there instead, and the butchers will keep littering it with animal parts." Governorate authorities then decided to divvy up the land and rent it. The Association of Friends of the National Cancer Institute rented the larger half and plans were announced that the first children's cancer hospital in Egypt would be built there. The other half was leased to the Egyptian car dealer El-Rawas, on the agreement that the private investor would build a multi-purpose social centre that would include a religious school and a ceremonial hall.
To date there are no signs that either project will materialise. Surrounding the empty lot where the hospital should be -- the project was inaugurated two years ago -- is nothing more than a wall. El-Rawas's site doesn't even have that; covered in garbage, the only marker is a sign announcing that the project was inaugurated in December 1999. The residents have had it with official mumbo jumbo. "They promised us a garden," says one young man, who runs an electrical appliance store. "We were happy with the idea. Then they told us they would build something more beneficial, and once again we were happy." He pauses. "But it's been three years and we have not seen anything yet. We don't care what they build, as long as we live in a clean area."
Frustrated as they may be, the people of Sayeda Zeinab are not really sure who to blame. Representatives from Al-Rawas claim they are not responsible for the delay, saying that when they took over control of the site, two buildings in Sayeda Zeinab collapsed. The police decided to use their lot to empty out the remains of the buildings, setting back construction. Other obstacles have been posed by various authorities, who have made it difficult to obtain water and electricity permits for the area. "We are building something that is going to benefit the people. Why would we keep postponing this project when we already took the initiative to rent out the lot?" remarked one El-Rawas representative.
On the government side, many officials lay the blame on the project sponsors. El-Husseini says that he had complained to the governor when he found that the two projects were not yet under way and the governor sent both lease-holders warnings that the governorate would confiscate the land if they did not start construction soon.
It was apparently after this mild rebuke that the National Cancer Institute and El-Rawas made a small show of starting work, putting up fences around the property and "inaugurating" their projects.
However, a governorate source who requested anonymity presented a different picture altogether, saying that convoluted bureaucratic procedures have held up the issuing of licences and permits without which construction cannot proceed. Another problem cited was the people of Sayeda Zeinab themselves, who "make it difficult to maintain the area and keep it clean. Their behaviour and living patterns need to be improved."
Turning the blame back on the very inhabitants that are suffering from the stalled plans was too much for Abu Mohamed, who grumbled that "We have complained numerous times, but every time they lay the blame on us. They say we have turned it into a dump, but then why would we be complaining? And who would want to live like this anyhow?"
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