By Samia Farid Shihata When it was decided to move the Embaba airport out of Cairo, Cairenes experienced a sense of anticipation at they pondered the huge potential of this sizeable and uniquely placed newly available empty plot of land! It was clearly a golden opportunity to establish a "green" haven in the middle of one of the poorest, most crowded and polluted areas of Cairo. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Egypt's best urban planners to use their imagination to devise a beautiful "urban concept" that would lift the area's standard of living while contributing to the alleviation of Cairo's traffic congestion and pollution. President Mubarak identified with this popular yearning when he declared that the Embaba Airport land would remain a green public space providing a breathing space for Egypt's capital city. Several years have passed since the decision to move the airport was made. Concerned citizens hoped that the government was using this time to study the situation to find the best plan for the area. It was hoped that the government would launch a national competition among Egypt's many urban planning experts to choose from alternative visions for this unique space. Surely, this very last chunk of prime real estate in the middle of one of the most congested cities of the world deserved no less. But this was not to be. When the government's plan for Embaba Aiport land was finally revealed, it was a disappointment. Instead of seizing this amazing opportunity for creativity and inspiration, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development went about the planning process in a typical "business as usual" fashion, lacking imagination. It seems that to the Ministry, this was just another piece of public land to be filled with as many housing blocks as possible so long as it included a big garden in the middle. Of course, the Ministry would consider the above characterization as unfair. In fact, the Ministry vigorously defends its plan as the best possible option given the financial constraints. The area of 209 acres, is divided into three parts: a first part for housing blocks for families displaced by the planned road construction planned (52 acres); a second part consisting of a park based on the design for the Al Azhar Park ( 38 acres); and a third part, as yet unplanned, to be reserved for future sale to investors ( 84 acres) to cover the cost of the first and second parts and the construction of a major throughway and other roads. In its defense against the accusation that it is reserving a large part of the land for sale for commercial buildings , the Ministry insists that Embaba airport land must not be viewed in isolation but as part of the larger plan to rehabilitate North Giza. This argument, though seemingly logical, is misleading. It is used to muddy the waters in the face of every criticism leveled against the government plan. To objections that just one third of the land will be devoted to a green park in the government's plan, the Ministry retorts that it will compensate for that by transforming into parks the few cultivated plots remaining in the midst of the sprawling informal housing community of North Giza. To those who believe that it would be best to make use of this opportunity to create a state-of-the art urban concept that would comprise educational, cultural, and/or other innovative parks with high quality facilities that could transform the lives of the underprivileged residents of the area, again the answer is that "we intend to build a number of new schools in other areas of North Giza." As for the criticism that the Ministry's plan is inconsistent with the strategy underlying the Greater Cairo urban plan which calls for moving commercial activities outside of Cairo and not building new commercial centers that will exacerbate Cairo's already unbearable traffic and pollution, the Ministry obfuscates by saying that it has not yet decided what to do with that third of the land, even as it professes that selling that land to investors would finance the implementation of the project . Those defending the government plan don't seem to get it. The issue is not just to build so many schools. It is not just to have a park here or there. The challenge is to use this whole contiguous area to create something that will be more that the sum of its parts; something that has the potential to produce a real change in the future of a large number of Egyptians. Finally, framing the choice as one between accepting commercial development as a necessary evil and having to postpone indefinitely what may be a superior alternative due to lack of financing is a false one. If a truly visionary plan is decided upon, I am sure it will be possible to obtain both private and international donor financing for it. In the accompanying article, Dr. Mamdouh Hamza also presents other financing ideas for the Embaba project. Like so many other concerned citizens, I sincerely hope that the Ministry will reconsider its decision and that it will call on Egypt's urban planners to openly compete in presenting alternative urban visions for this valuable piece of public land. The general public should be also allowed to express its views on the different plans, while the ultimate choice of the best plan could be made by a distinguished panel of urban planners and prominent citizens.
