Shaq el-Thoban (Fissure of the Snake) is Egypt's marble and granite stronghold, home to hundreds of factories, employing thousands of people. The area, in Tora, southern Cairo, is one of the leading centres for the industry worldwide. But in recent years, it has been facing a real menace, in the form of the Chinese who are gradually taking control there. The area hosts up to 400 factories, each employing an average of 30 workers, but many have been forced to close, while Chinese investors have started renting dozens of them. Last January, some of the factory owners in Shaq el-Thoban filed a complaint to the Building Materials and Quarries Chamber at the Federation of the Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, (FECC) warning of the gradual Chinese take-over. The Chinese produce cheaply priced, low-quality marble which is taking its toll on the global reputation of Egyptian marble. One factory owner there, who has spent long years in the industry, says that the ‘Chinese marble' is exported as ‘Egyptian marble', causing the industry huge losses. Lack of healthcare for workers in Shaq el-Thoban, together with sky-high power costs and water and sanitation problems, has forced hundreds of Egyptian workers to quit. Many plants closed, while others now use cheaper Chinese workers, some of whom are now renting the factories from their original owners. “Shaq el-Thoban is a ‘random' industrial area, utterly lacking utilities and infrastructure," Engineer Abdel-Moneim Azmi, Chairman of Al-Jazeera Marble and Granite Company, located in Shaq el-Thoban, told an Arabic daily newspaper. “For example, there is a shortage of water and I have to pay LE20,000 every month for the water I use". As many as 200 factories in Shaq el-Thoban have closed, while about 60 are being rented by Chinese people who export the raw marble and granite instead of processing them here, making them huge profits. Engineer Ahmed Salah, who owns a huge marble and granite plant there, told the newspaper that, "unfortunately", Chinese labour is favoured by some of the factory owners, since the Chinese are cheaper and work harder, even if their products aren't so good. “Another problem is the protection money we have to pay to Bedouins in the area," Salah explains, urging the Government to save this important industry. Mahmoud Morsi, a law graduate working as a foreman in one of the factories, calls upon the Government and industrial experts to provide medical cover for the people working in this "deadly profession". Morsi, who was permanently disabled in an accident in one of the quarries there, says that a marble and granite labourer can earn up to LE80 daily, but the work is "fraught with danger". After his accident, Morsi stayed a few months at home, but finally decided to go back to work, this time as a foreman, after many others had fled from the ‘Chinese ghoul' haunting the Fissure of the Snake. Head of the Building Materials and Quarries Chamber, Ahmed Abdel-Hamid, says that, in addition to all the factories, Shaq el-Thoban is home to 800 workshops, where about 800,000 people have been working. “The Chinese now control 10 to 12 per cent of the factories and workshops," he explains. The biggest problem with Shaq el-Thoban according to Abdel-Hamid, is the lack of financing, lawlessness, protection money extorted by Bedouin and the high costs of local labour. “Moreover, the Egyptian workers seem to prefer to stay at home, inviting foreigners to take their place," he comments.
