CAIRO: Alkan Holding's plans to complete construction on a major business and tourist complex adjacent to the Citadel and Islamic Cairo were dealt a major blow Monday following the release of Unesco's second report on the site. Construction work on the Cairo Financial and Touristic Centre (CFTC) was initially halted in July 2006 to allow for a Unesco inspection after the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Zahi Hawass convinced the Governor of Cairo, Abdel-Azim Wazir, that it posed a threat to important historical and cultural sites. The CFTC, Hawass argued, would significantly impair views of the Citadel and the surrounding area, and his argument was backed up by a number of organizations including the Arab Union of Archaeologists. The Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, also weighed in, stating that the development would blemish the area's skyline. Unesco's first report confirmed that the CFTC would have a "significant adverse impact on the visual integrity of the Citadel, and made a number of recommendations including reducing the height of the complex and fragmenting it into a number of different parts to free up space. The second report goes even further in its recommendations to scale down the height of the CFTC, which according to plans would comprise a five-star hotel, cinema entertainment center, and office and residential space upon completion. "[The upper floors] would constitute a major infringement on the visual integrity of the citadel, an Egypt government statement quoted Unesco as saying The report recommends removing the top five floors of the foreseen hotel - those levelling between 30.55m and 47.55m - as well as the top six floors of the office areas in the south eastern section of the plan, levelling between 31.55m and 59.50m. Alkan's chairman, Mohamed Nosseir, had successfully obtained planning permission from most of the required authorities - including the Cairo Governor's Office and the Office of the Prime Minister - but overlooked the SCA. And now Hawass will send two official letters along with the Unesco report to both Nosseir and Cairo's Governor, so that a decision can be made as to how to proceed. "We are not for or against this project, Ahmed Ebeid, the director of Hawass' office at the SCA previously told Daily News Egypt. "Dr. Hawass knows how big this [project would be] for the economy, but our cultural heritage has to be protected first. No one from Alkan was available to comment by press time.
