Life in Alexandria, the second largest city in Egypt after Cairo, has become very difficult. The people are suffering from many problems and are in desperate need of help. Alexandria, a very attractive city that enjoys moderate weather and beautiful beaches, is now passing through a serious crisis; senior officials need to rescue Alex and comprehensively develop it. “We have a lot of projects which have been suspended. Many factories have closed and the streets have deteriorated. In fact, all the streets in Alex, from east to west, need to be repaved, and something must be done to end the traffic chaos,” says Osama el-Fouli, the Governor of Alexandria. He adds that the other vital projects have been suspended and need financing, such as a project to develop the Mahmoudia Canal Road. Work on this, one of the city's most important roads, will cost LE120 million. “Many drainage projects have been suspended, such as the Agami and Hannoville projects, and the German project in el-Ameria. We need about LE250m to complete these suspended projects, which citizens desperately need. “This city will face a disaster next winter, as work on protecting the beaches from erosion has also been suspended and waves will start crashing onto the Corniche. We need LE100m to save the city from flooding,” Dr el-Fouli warns. As for the suspended housing projects, he says that they don't have even one housing unit to give to citizens in an emergency. “The Government must give us at least LE70 million to build housing units for poor people made homeless in natural disasters,” he adds. “As for the garbage problem, we need LE15m to pay for recycling the trash, putting an end to the pollution it causes.” Then there is Lake Marriout, which is highly polluted – a whopping LE4 billion is needed to purify it! “We also require LE50 million to provide villages and shantytowns with electricity. As for the seven-floor governorate building, where many employers work, it was destroyed during the revolution and will cost LE20 million to rebuild. Then, we have to think about developing the shantytowns that have mushroomed on the outskirts of the city. “Borg el-Arab and el-Ameria also need developing and we have to get all the closed factories up and running again,” he explains. “A medical city was planned on the outskirts of Alex and that project has been suspended too; we need to find about LE200 million to finish it. “We ought also to build more road bridges and tunnels, to ease the traffic problems, especially in the summer, and also to make the roads less dangerous for pedestrians. “So much must be done to restore Alexandria, the Mermaid of the Mediterranean, to its former glory,” el-Fouli stresses.
