An multitude of congested domes, 25 kilometers south of Aswan at Wadi Qurqur, represent the beginning of a government plan to relocate around 1,000 Nubian families forced to evacuate their homes during construction of the High Dam in the 1960s. The Nubian-style dwellings evidence the first stage of the ministries of housing and defense-commissioned project. The houses will be divided among eight villages, each with 250 homes. Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Development Ahmed al-Maghraby, said 70 percent of the project's first stage is finished. Completion of this phase is expected by the end of the year. Mahmoud Meghawry, head of the ministry's urbanization authority, said the plan's primary objective is to provide housing for Nubians who left Egypt after the forced evacuation. The ministry's role is strictly to execute the project, he added, while distribution logistics are in the hands of the Aswan Governorate. Meghawry said the Nubians and the governorate's council approved the project's selected designs. The project, which has been allocated an initial LE600 million, has President Mubarak's support, Meghwary noted. He also said each new village will have sophisticated services and utilities, including police stations, post offices, phone centrals, schools, youth centers, family care centers, agricultural services units, mosques, two markets, and two bakeries. Meghawry said authorities are currently working on a network of roads, a water processing station that will be linked to Lake Nasser, and a healthy drainage station. Minister al-Maghraby praised the understanding of leaders in the Nubian community. He promised to erect a memorial in the middle of the development site that will read: ”We are the people who waited till the state handled its priorities in times of war and peace.” The government delayed giving the Nubians full rights because of wars the country had to engage in during the evacuation period. The plan is a starting point in the effort to finally deliver those rights, al-Maghraby said during a mid-August inspection of the project. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
