posted
FOR many years now, Greater Cairo, comprising the three governorates of Cairo, Giza and el-Qaliubia, has suffered from dirty streets.It all started when the garbage collectors and the Cleaning and Beautification Authority, affiliated to the local councils, could no longer cope with the continuous increasing population of Greater Cairo.
So the Cairo Governor at the time, Abdel Rehim Shehata, decided to recruit a foreign company to help collect the garbage from people's homes and keep the streets of the capital clean. At the time, there was a lot of debate about the project. Some parties criticised the Government for having to call in foreign experts to keep the capital clean, while the traditional garbage collectors were angry because collecting rubbish is their livelihood. They recycle much of the trash and use leftover food to feed their pigs.Eventually, the Cairo Governor signed the contract with the foreign company, and the Governors of Giza and Alexandria also contracted with some other foreign companies to scoop up the garbage every day.However, Cairo, one of the world's biggest cities, continued to suffer the same old problem of dirty streets. In fact, it seemed to be getting worse for a number of reasons.The foreign companies depended on big trucks to collect the rubbish from large skips in the streets, replacing the old house-to-house garbage-collecting method of the zebbaleen, according to critics. The companies' workers then dumped the rubbish from the skips in the street, taking anything that could be recycled and leaving mountains of trash behind, for rats and other unpleasant creatures to feast and thrive on.The piles of rubbish grew and grew, especially outside institutions that produce a lot of trash every day, such as hospitals, schools and governmental offices.What compounded the problem was the fact that citizens refused to pay the garbage collection fees. So there were problems paying the foreign companies, which offered a poor service anyway. The contracts with most of these companies were cancelled and nothing replaced them.The Cairo Governor then asked the Cleaning and Beautification Authority to clear the mountains of garbage. It had failed in the past and it failed again. The mountains had grown even bigger anyway, as most of the foreign companies had been given the sack. Next, the Minister of Electricity decided to have people's garbage collection fees factored into their electricity bills. However, most citizens refused to pay, as they were afraid their trash still wouldn't be taken away.Some heads of districts started their own initiatives. For example in el-Warraq in Giza, officials contracted with the Egyptian Agency for Environmental Affairs to remove the garbage as of June 2006, in return for small fees collected from homes and shops.Meanwhile, Mohamed Seif Eddin, the head of Shubra el-Kheima district, organised vehicles to take away the rubbish from outside people's homes. "This service costs LE3 per flat," he says.However, the problem remains largely unsolved. It may take decades for the authorities to find a way to remove the rubbish of all the capital's 14 million or so residents.
posted
This article gets me kind of upset. I hope they figure out soon to solve the problem. "It may take decades" isn't a satisfying and acceptable proposal.... something major has to be done.
gentle_giant Member # 10863
posted
Anyone been into rubbish city (at the base of mokkatam)? Really freaky place, very poor people.
garfield Member # 10258
posted
Yes Gentle_giant...have been there and agree with you. So sad that a great city like Cairo has been reduced to looking so bad in so many places. Even in Hurghada, where I live, we have a problem. Many times I hear such bad comments from visitors about the city not clean.
gentle_giant Member # 10863
posted
It actually seemed really efficient, but I figure that's because the people didn't have any choice. I felt both awe and sympathy at the same time. It's a live-in recycling centre.
posted