Since the January 25 Revolution, many problems have surfaced, while other problems have grown bigger. President Mohammed Morsi has vowed to solve five of Egypt's biggest problems during his first 100 days in office. He has promised to put an end to the insecurity, traffic congestion, fuel shortages, bread shortages and the garbage in the streets, while inviting his supporters to evaluate his performance. Morsi stresses that solving these problems depends mainly on people changing the way they behave, rather than changing the way the budget is managed. In the early days of the revolution, nation's prisons were attacked and prisoners escaped, causing terrible insecurity; the many thugs on the streets are one of Egypt's biggest problems. There are knives and guns everywhere; many people carry weapons to defend themselves if they are attacked, while others carry them to threaten and rob people, or even injure and kill them. Many people had voted for Shafiq in his capacity as an experienced Statesman whose military background could have helped control the chaotic street. However, 'the Renaissance project' of the Muslim Brotherhood which brought Morsi to the presidential seat is hoped to put an end to urgent problems facing Egypt nowadays, on top of which is security. "I voted for Morsi because he has promised to solve the insecurity problem in only 100 days," says Mohamed Abdel-Rahman, a 26-year-old accountant. "The development of any country depends on its security, something it cannot flourish without." "To tackle the problem of insecurity is a real challenge," General Abdel-Fatah Omar, a security expert, says. "Nowadays, thugs have unlicensed weapons that they buy on the black market. Only an excellent security plan can solve this problem." According to Omar, the crisis all boil down to political and economic instability, but now that we have a president, things will be different. Another problem which annoys tens of millions of Egyptians is the traffic congestion. Employees, who commute to work every day, have to struggle through overcrowded streets, where motorists ignore the traffic lights and even the traffic policemen too. "The traffic problem can't just be blamed on the overcrowded streets, but also on the disrespectful behaviour of many drivers," says Ahmed Saqr, a taxi driver. "The necessary laws already exist, but the executive police should encourage the people to respect them," he adds. Saqr says that he is waiting to see the whether the President can solve the traffic problems in his first 100 days in office. "Sometimes, my customers have to pay LE5 per kilometre, because of the congestion, and this a great financial burden for most Egyptians," Saqr, who has one of the modern electronic counters in his cab, says sadly. "The counter begins at LE2.5 and you can add PT25 for every kilometre, but it's much more in heavy traffic," he explains. Because he sympathises with his struggling fellow citizens, Saqr has decided that from now on he will not use the counter in heavy traffic. Meanwhile, Hassan el-Mahdi, a road engineering professor at Ain Shams University, blames bad transportation for the congestion. "The solution to the problem of traffic congestion is to provide high-quality public transportation and get car owners to switch to this transportation," el-Mahdi says. "For this to happen, the transportation companies and the Government need to work closely together." He admits that the problem is far worse in the capital than in the rural areas. There are about 22 million people living in Cairo, 2.5 million of whom use the Tube every day, while 20 per cent of them use their cars. Maha Sabri, a 28-year-old housewife, sees that there are other, more serious problems that threaten the future of the younger generation. "The economic crisis, low salaries, unemployment and poverty should be prioritised compared to the traffic congestion," Maha says. According to the Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Centre, natural gas production hit 11,665 tonnes during the first quarter of 2012, down 0.21 per cent from 11,680 tonnes in the same period in the previous year. The shortage has had a dramatic effect on the Egyptian street, with carowners having to queue for hours at petrol stations for fuel. As for the microbus, taxi and other drivers, some of them have increased their fares without official permission, to compensate for the time they have to hang around at petrol stations. "I'm just bumped up my fares by 50 piastres to compensate for the time I spend at the petrol station," says Said Kamona, a microbus driver. Then, there are the queues for something even more vital – bread. The, Government subsidises bread to the tune of LE18 billion per annum, while Egyptians consume 18 million tonnes of wheat every year. A lot of the subsidised flour leaks onto the black market, which is why the queues for bread are so big. "If the budget for bread were used properly, the President could solve the problem, improve the quality of the bread and depend solely on locally grown wheat," says Mohamed Salem, a professor of agriculture at el-Menoufia University. Dr Morsi has also promised to get rid of the mountains of trash in Egypt's streets in his first 100 days in the hot seat. According to a report from the Ministry of Environment, the amount of garbage Egypt produces annually will hit 30.2 million tonnes by 2016. "Morsi needs to realise the dimensions of the problem," says Ahmed Abdel-Wahab, an environmental expert. “What we really need to do is recycle millions of tonnes of organic waste; if we did so, Egypt would be better than Brazil," Abdel-Wahab explains. “You don't just find trash in the side streets, as the major streets are full of it too," says Dina Essam, who lives in Nasr City. "In the developed countries, they recycle the rubbish and use it for useful things," adds Dina, an accountant. "But there are many more problems Dr Morsi must tackle, for example poverty. The new President has a heavy burden to bear. He needs to prove as quickly as possible that he is up to the challenges," she stresses.
