The third phase of construction on an underground metro could cause more traffic jams above ground, reports Reem Leila In a major section in one of east Cairo's main thoroughfares work is under way, ostensibly to improve traffic. But traffic in Ataba Square and Bab Al-Shaariya will get worse before it gets better, especially after Al-Geish Street connecting both areas closed down. Bumper-to-bumper vehicles engage in fierce battles for space with buzzing drills and huge cranes. The third phase of the capital's underground metro includes a 43 km-long tunnel from Ataba to Abbasiya, and will comprise five metro stops: Ataba, Bab Al-Shaariya, Al-Geish, Abdu Basha and Abbasiya at an estimated cost of LE3.6 billion. The construction of a fourth line, connecting Heliopolis with Cairo International Airport, will start after line No 3 is completed. The underground's three phases is a mega project on Egypt's public transportation map with investments amounting to LE12 billion. Work on the first phase of Cairo's third underground line started 3 September as Cleopatra, the huge driller, began cranking on site. The drilling machine was lowered under the ground, in front of the Police Academy in Abbasiya. The launching of the first phase of construction was attended by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, Minister of Transportation Mohamed Mansour, International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul- Naga, and Minister of Housing and Public Utilities Ahmed El-Maghrabi, as well as Cairo Governor Abdel-Azim Wazir, in addition to members of parliament. Saad Shehata, head of the National Authority for Tunnels (NAT), said the first two phases of the underground metro which stretched 64.6 kilometres, have vertically linked the Cairo and Giza governorates, thus transporting around three million passengers daily. The underground's metro third and fourth lines along with the two already constructed phases will horizontally connect the country's three governorates -- Cairo, Giza and Qalioubiya -- thus transporting more than five million commuters a day. The drill costs an estimated LE3.6 billion. Cleopatra will operate for 20 months and the field work will be managed by a French company in cooperation with the Arab Contractors and Orascom. Around 600 Egyptian engineers and workers will be involved in the construction. Phase one of the third underground metro will serve 250,000 passengers daily and bring in LE2.7 billion annually to the economy. The metro is meant to streamline traffic in the area starting from Ataba and ending at Abbasiya, and MP Hamdi El-Tahhan, head of People's Assembly Transportation Committee, said the new line is expected to solve traffic problems in the crowded area. "A good underground metro line is like a new lung. It will facilitate transportation underground and also decrease traffic on the surface," El-Tahhan said. A press release issued by the Ministry of Transportation stated that many officials and the public alike describe the underground metro as the safest and cheapest method of transport. Accordingly, the new line is being touted as one of the most important projects of this generation since it will link the east and west ends of the capital. In addition to solving traffic problems, Shehata said, it will also cut the number of cars on the streets which will save gas and decrease air pollution. He said LE18 million was paid to compensate the owners of 65 apartments and shops for their relocation. The second phase of the project will start in November 2009 involving four additional stations along a rail 12.7km long, to be inaugurated in October 2013. Phase three of the project will add eight stations 8km in length. But urban planners spoken to by Al-Ahram Weekly are not enthusiastic about the underground, with many arguing that the tunnel will ultimately compound traffic problems in nearby areas. According to urban planner Sherif Kamel, "the new underground metro line may ease traffic in one area, but will probably wreak havoc in another, as is always the case with such projects." Kamel has described the third phase of the underground as "no more than piecemeal solutions, a sedative rather than a cure." He said the real cure involves driving traffic out of Cairo altogether, "which requires moving office buildings, job opportunities, shopping malls and urban activities to the capital's new suburbs and satellite cities." Public transportation must also be upgraded in order to curb the constant increase in the number of cars on the road. "Otherwise," Kamel warned, "we will fall into a vicious cycle of pouring more and more money into more bridges and tunnels, while traffic will only get worse." Shehata dismissed claims that the construction would dishevel nearby areas. "The plan was the result of both thorough research as well as the combined efforts of all the concerned authorities including the Ministry of Housing, the Traffic Authority and Cairo Governorate," Kamel said. "Most of the roads surrounding the construction site already have the capacity to accommodate far more than the current number of vehicles using them. Meanwhile, other thoroughfares have been widened and upgraded to meet the expected increase in traffic. "I can safely say that the new metro will relieve traffic in the area for at least the next decade," Shehata said. It will take time before the present chaos gives way to a free flow of traffic in the future. But the residents of Ataba Square and Bab Al-Shaariya Street are impatient. Bab Al-Shaariya resident Ahmed Hassanein, a retired employee, says, "we are living in hell. The noise and dust are unbearable, and parking has become, at best, a disastrous prospect. We wake up to find the street a jungle of cement and cranes." Egypt was the first African and Arab country to have an underground metro, transporting three million passengers daily.
