CAIRO - The Government has been building a lot of new communities, to try and reduce the overcrowding in Cairo. But these communities lack adequate facilities, like hospitals, schools, public transportation, vegetable and fruit markets, which everyone needs to lead a reasonable life. You might say it's like a chef, who cooks a special meal but forgets the salt, pepper and other flavourings. One of these new communities is 10th Ramadan City, located on the Cairo-Ismailia Desert Road and established according to Republican Decree No. 597 of 1980. The country's first new industrial community, 10th Ramadan City also helps connect Cairo with the Canal cities. It's a well-planned city, but residents complain that the public transportation between the city's various neighbourhoods isn't what it should be. In addition, there are no kindergartens, while consumer goods and housing are very expensive. Although 10th Ramadan City was originally constructed to be an industrial zone, a visitor to the city doesn't get that impression, as there are no noisy factories and the air isn't polluted. The city has vast green areas, covering about 50 feddans, in addition to wide roads, reflecting good urban planning. It contains 98,240 housing units, varying from the expensive to the cheap, distributed among 13 districts, including 103 neighbourhoods. Ayman Kamal, who works in a factory there, told Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper that he moved to the city a couple of years ago to be close to his work. “A colleague and I share a flat in a popular area; our company pays the rent, which comes to LE500 [about $85] a month,” Kamal noted. “In middle-class area, the rent fee ranges from LE700 to LE1,000 [about $170].” Ammar Younis, who also lives in the city, says that services are improving, but there is still a problem with public transportation between neighbourhoods. “Of course, you can use taxis, but they're very expensive,” he adds. Soha Ibrahim, a housewife, moved to 10th Ramadan City four years ago, since when the population has soared. “When I first moved here, it was like a ghost town during feasts and vacations, when everything stopped operating, even the only market we had. But things have improved with the increase in population,” she comments. “Still, the quality of the subsidised bread is very poor, so we're forced to buy the expensive sort,” Soha says. Yehia Fareed, one of the beneficiaries of the 'Build your own Home' project, moved there with his family in 2008. He was surprised by the lack of schools. It's an hour's walk to the nearest one from their home. “So I have to pay a taxi driver LE40 [about $7] per month, to take each of my children to school,” he says. Mahmoud Abu Zeid, a senior official on 10th Ramadan City's council, agrees that the city was constructed to be an industrial zone, but they've had to reconsider its use, especially as only 65,000 feddans of this 95,000-feddan city are actually being used. “It would be great if the city could be linked up to the national railways and the Greater Cairo Underground,” he told the indepent Al Masry Al-Youm newspaper. “But there are a lot of things that are good about this city. We have a governmental hospital and many medical centres and private hospitals, some of which treat patients for free. “The 'Build your own Home' project, in co-operation with the Ministry of Health, is going to build a new hospital and upgrade the existing ones,” stresses Abu Zeid.
