Category: EGYPT

News about Egypt

Egypt Hosts Five Million Refugees: Foreign Ministry

Egypt’s Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Hisham Badr told European Union Members of Parliament (MEPs) that Egypt now hosts five million refugees and migrants from across the region.

Blaming the EU-Turkey deal for an increase in the number of refugees arriving in Egypt, Badr said that pressure has increased on Egypt to accommodate for refugees and to prevent others from attempting the dangerous crossing to Europe.

“You see what has happened as a result of the deal with Turkey. The closing of the Balkan route and the deal in north Africa, the pressure has increased on Egypt,” said Badr, according to the EU Observer. The EU-Turkey deal saw the EU provide billions of dollars in aid in return for Turkey stopping the flow of migration to Europe and accepting refugees.

Badr also told MEPs from the foreign affairs committee that it had prevented more than 5,000 people from crossing the Mediterranean in recent months, including 400 people just days ago.

“We will continue of course to do our jobs and bear our responsibility without trying, unlike certain other countries, to bargain with that for other reasons,” said Badr, adding that Egypt spends $US 300 million a year as a result of the refugee crisis.

Badr also revealed that there are currently 500,000 Syrians seeking refuge in Syria.

“We are not getting enough support. I don’t want to mention any examples with a country bordering you, which has got 6 billion dollars in help,” continued Badr in reference to Turkey.

Along with Syrians, Egypt hosts hundreds of thousands of Somalis, Eritreans, Sudanese, Libyans, and more.

(egyptianstreets.com)

September 8, 2016
Egypt to hire private companies to clean, manage and secure Giza pyramids area

Egypt’s government has decided to hire private companies to manage, maintain and secure the area around the Pyramids of Giza, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.

A meeting took place on Tuesday between Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and officials from the housing ministry, the tourism ministry and the antiquities ministry, during which the government announced the details of the pyramids development project, stating that a company has already been hired for EGP 5 million a year to maintain cleanliness the area.

Another company has been hired for security, and a third will be chosen for management.

The government also announced that it will increase tourism police in the area and will coordinate with the interior ministry to rebuild a nearby police station, as well as either renovate or relocate a hospital in the area.

Egypt has been struggling to revive its ailing tourism sector, which has suffered greatly after the political instability that followed the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The number of tourists visiting Egypt dropped by 41.9 percent in July compared with the same month last year, the state’s official statistics authority announced last week.

The crash of a Russian flight in Sinai late last year was yet another blow to the tourism industry. The number of tourists coming to Egypt dropped by 50 percent in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period last year, according to Egypt’s Tourism Authority.

Russia was among several countries to suspend passenger flights to Egypt after the crash, which killed 224 people on board. The crash was claimed by Islamist militants who said they planted a bomb on flight.

(english.ahram.org.eg)

September 8, 2016
Winners announced in the Science City Competition in Egypt
Weston Williamson + Partners, a design firm from the United Kingdom under the direction of Philip Turner, has been awarded First Place in the recently concluded single phase, open, international competition for a “Master Plan and Conceptual Design of the Science City,” to be located in 6th of October City near Cairo.

The competition was launched on 15 April 2016 to find the comprehensive plan and design for a complex dedicated to science and to research. The configuration of spaces is intended to be both a landmark for the 6th of October City and a symbol of the rebirth of the study of science in Egypt.

The Jury unanimously selected the winning project out of 145 entries from 45 countries on the basis of its “subtle but rich design,” using “a multitude of umbrella-like, circular canopies of various sizes, supported by single columns, providing a symbolic, ‘column-scape’ and an upper terrace elegantly shadowed by artificial clouds,” which also provide “opportunities for water harvesting and solar energy collection.” The project can be completed in three stages, starting from the central section and growing as wings, thus furnishing a “rational and workable” design solution.

The Jury attributed three prizes and four Honourable Mentions:
- Second Prize to Dr. Lim Teng Ngiom of Ngiom Partnership (Malaysia)
- Third Prize to Marcella Fedele of Zaha Hadid Architects(United Kingdom)
- Fourth Prize to Taijip Kim of Gansam Architects & Partners Co., Ltd. (Republic of Korea)
Honourable Mentions were awarded to
- Petras Architecture, XCON Housos (Greece)
- Joaquim Caetano de Lima Filho, Daniel Henrique Ribeiro, Giliarde Silva and Guilherme Oliveira (Brazil)
- whitespace architects (United Arab Emirates)
- Francisco Jorquera (Spain).
The UIA endorsed this competition and was represented on the jury by Greek architect and UIA Council Member Nikos Fintikakis.

(www.uia.archi)
September 7, 2016
Egyptian researchers discover a way to grow forests in the desert with sewage

Desertification is a major issue throughout Africa, but there’s a simple way to stop the spread of deserts into fertile land: planting forests. The problem is that in the regions hardest hit by the phenomenon, there simply isn’t enough clean water to properly nurture the trees and keep them healthy. But an innovative project in Egypt proves that it can be done using repurposed wastewaterinstead of tapping into the sparse fresh water supply. The trees grown in the forest are thriving, and in fact, the eucalyptus trees have been found to produce wood at four times the rate of pine plantations in Germany.

Located about two hours from Cairo, the Serapium forest is part of a program initiated by the Egyptian government in the 90s. The 200-hectare plantation is home to a variety of native and non-native trees, including commercially valuable species like eucalyptus and mahogany. Though the soil in this area would normally be too devoid of nutrients to support new tree growth, researchers have found that by watering the trees with sewage effluent, the plants are able to flourish. The wastewater provides so many nutrients that additional fertilizer isn’t even necessary.

Related: The Great Green Wall of Africa could fight desertification and poverty

The sewage used to water these trees is at stage two in the treatment process. In the first stage, mechanical filters are used to remove dirt and garbage from the water. In the second stage, oxygen and microbes are added to decompose the organic material in the water. This leaves a fluid rich in phosphates and nitrogen, a mixture similar to that found in commercial fertilizers.

Normally, this wouldn’t be used to water crops – the amount of fertilizers in the water would be excessive for some plants, and the bacteria in the water could potentially contaminate fruits and vegetables. However, in areas where nothing is grown for human consumption, it’s perfectly safe to use.

In as few as 15 years, the trees in the plantation are ready to harvest with a production of 350 cubic meters of wood per hectare. By contrast, German pines would take around 60 years to reach the same level of production. So not only are the plantations helping Egypt retain its fertile land, but they’re also producing a valuable natural resource which would otherwise need to be imported from other nations.

Related: South African insurance company backs tree-planting effort to reduce effects of drought

It’s estimated that a whopping 650,000 hectares of the Egyptian desert could be converted to wood production if the country were to use 80% of its effluent for the cause. Right now, however, Egypt isn’t even close – and that’s primarily due to a lack of funding. However, it’s possible the nation might be able to use money from the UN’s Green Climate Fund or through private forestry companies.

(inhabitat.com)

September 7, 2016