By Mariz Tadros Is it time to say goodbye to those dreary hours stuck in a traffic jam that seems to go on forever? Time, even, to throw out that mini-TV set stuck on the dashboard? Well maybe. Certainly the official opening yesterday by President Hosni Mubarak of the first phase of Al--Mounib Bridge gives fresh hope to Cairo's distressed drivers. At 2.55km, Al-Mounib Bridge is one of the longest to cross the Nile, linking the western section of Greater Cairo at the Marioutiya Canal in Giza to the Nile Corniche at Maadi. It cost LE420 million to build and will save an estimated LE100 million annually for motorists travelling this route. Sherif Lutfi, first under-secretary at the Ministry of Housing, believes the bridge will relieve congestion on Pyramids and Faisal streets by 40-50 per cent. "Congestion is a major problem. Workers who have to travel from Cairo to 6 October City or vice versa every day arrive at work completely drained; it's a daily trauma for them. And motorists who may have driven from Alexandria to Cairo in two hours sometimes spend two more just getting through Faisal or Pyramids streets," said Lutfi. The bridge is good news, too, for those living in eastern Cairo. If your home is in Heliopolis, Abbasiya, Matariya or any of the surrounding districts and you want to get to 6 October or Sadat City or even Fayoum, you no longer have to face a million and one traffic lights in central Cairo. You don't even have to go through Al-Malek Al-Saleh and take the eternally congested bridge across Manial. All you have to do is take Salah Salem or the autostrade to the Maadi Corniche, cross Al-Mounib Bridge and voilà, you've crossed the Nile. Traffic conditions will further improve with the imminent opening of the 26 July route, running from Lebanon Square in Mohandessin to the start of the Cairo-Alexandria desert highway near the Pyramids. "No traffic lights, no hassle, and no long waiting hours; a highway in the true sense of the word," said Lutfi. The Al-Mounib Bridge and the 26 July route, in turn, are just two parts of the Greater Cairo ring road currently under construction. When the ring road is complete, claimed Lutfi, "it will give Cairo a face-lift". It will serve transport needs not only in Greater Cairo but across the whole of Egypt, easing congestion for transport from Upper to Lower Egypt and vice versa. "When the ring road is finished there will no longer be any need to pass through the heart of Cairo." Although the ring road will save motorists a lot of time and trouble, inevitably it has meant some displacement of residents in the areas affected, the great majority of whom are low-income families. Just this week, the people of Mit Oqba, part of which has to be cleared for the 26 July route, were surprised to read in the newspapers that they had received compensation and alternative housing. It was the first they had heard of it. Salama Ibrahim, one of the residents who will have to move, told the Weekly: "I and the people here are not against this project. We understand it will serve the national good, but what about us? We don't mind if we have to be moved, but move us somewhere where we can make a living. Most of us work around Mit Oqba; if you settle us at the 6 October City, what on earth will we do?" Nobody in Mit Oqba knows exactly what is to happen to them, though rumours are rife, something that serves only to heighten the unsettled atmosphere. Nehmedou Ahmed Abdel-Latif, a widow with one child who pays LE9 a month for a rented room where she lives with her mother, wonders what will happen to her when the building is pulled down. "They told me that those living in rented areas would be given LE2,000 in compensation, but where will that get us today? It won't even pay for a small room. You need enormous amounts just for key money." Most people are prepared to move, albeit grudgingly, if only they receive adequate compensation. What they do not want is to end up sidelined or ignored in the middle of the celebrations. Meanwhile the Ministry of Housing insists that all those affected by the construction would be compensated. "This is a project for the public good. It is necessary to take a knife to the wound to clean it, it has to be done. It is painful, but necessary," said Lutfi.
