The National Project for Roads will facilitate attracting the investors, writes Ahmed Ali
“There is no real development without a sufficient road network,” said Ali Al-Biali, professor of urban planning at Al-Azhar University, stressing the importance of the national project for roads which the government is working on in the mean time.
Given the fact that developing the national road network has a key role in attracting investors, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi launched, on 22 July last year, the national project for roads, which includes 39 roads for an investment value of LE36 billion.
The 39 road projects vary from upgrading to construction, and the whole project is scheduled to reach an end in August. In addition to the private construction companies which are working on the project, the ministries of transportation and housing as well as the Armed Forces Engineering Authority share the responsibilities and supervision.
“One of the major aims behind the project is to relieve the pressure on the Delta by constructing the project’s new desert roads which allow trade transportation from the north to the south, to avoid going through the Delta and Cairo regions. It links the eastern and western regions of Egypt through crosswise axes, which will allow desert development to be achieved,” Al-Biali said.
El-Sisi, during his one-hour televised speech to the public last month, emphasized that 45 per cent of the national project for roads will be accomplished in August.
“This August we will complete 3,200km which make up 45 per cent of the whole national road network project,” El-Sisi said. “In the same month we will also complete the regional ring road, which is 400km long and connects over 20 governorates. It was planned that this project would accomplished in five years, but we will complete it this August so as to encourage investors,” El-Sisi stated during his speech.
Moreover, the president spoke of attracting investors through stressing on the importance of the National Road Project due to the fact that attracting the investors will be facilitated once the country’s road network is complete.
The roads scheduled to be completed in August includes: Ismailia-Banha (Regional Ring) Road, 33 km; Shubra-Banha Road, 40 km; Al-Farafrah-Ein Dallah, 90 km; Khashm Al-Rakabah, 110 km; Al-Minya-Ras Gharib, 80 km; Qena-Safaga, 160 km; Al-Fayoum-Al-Wahat, 80 km; Assuit-Suhag-Red Sea, 180 km; Sheikh Fadl link on the Ras-Gharib Road, 90 km; Ahmed Hamdi Tunnel-Ras Sidr link, 35 km; Wadi Al-Natrun-Al-Alamain, 100 km; Central Ring Road linking Ain-Sokhna and Ismailia roads, 35 km; and Suez Road-Regional Ring Road link, 70 km.
“The new road network is aimed at linking the west of Egypt with its east, south, and north while also linking the hinterlands recently added to the provinces. This includes linking provinces in southern Egypt with the Western Desert and Red Sea ports. Economic zones will also be linked to local and international commercial traffic such as the Questel Aswan Road which connects Egypt and Sudan. Egypt’s road network runs for 24,000 kilometres, most of which is more than 60 years old,” Dahi said. Half of Egypt’s 24,000 km of main roads are slated for maintenance, he added.
El-Sisi announced last year that “the national road projects will not be financed from the state budget but by money donated to the Long Live Egypt Fund”. The fund was launched on 1 June 2014 and is supervised by El-Sisi, along with Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayyib, Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria and CBE Governor Hisham Ramez.
“Due to the enormity of the project and its high cost, 17 committees were formed to oversee all phases of implementation in addition to the formation of an operations room to follow up the schedule of the construction process,” Transport Minister Hani Dahi said. He also explained that more than fifteen public and private companies are involved in the construction of the national roads project.
Ibrahim Mabrouk, professor of roads and traffic at Al-Azhar University, believes that the multiplicity of the administrative authorities supervising the project will be a reason behind the delay. “Due to the multiplicity of supervising administrative authorities on the project is a major reason behind the delay in some road projects. Besides, the lack of liquidity and shortage of petroleum products are also reasons,” Mabrouk said.
In a recent statement, on Saturday, Dahi stated that the National Road Project will not be completely fulfilled in August because of the obstacles and problems that face the project in its beginning. “Some of the road projects were stumbled because of security reasons hampering work at night. There were also administrative problems in addition to the dispossession of the lands owned by citizens that impeded the operational rate of the whole project,” Dahi said during his visit to Alexandria Port.
Likewise, Hisham Arafat, head of the Structural Engineering at the Future University, was quoted by Al-Watan daily newspaper saying: “I think that the reason for the low percentage of implementation ratio is the tumbling of expropriation as it takes time. The compensation of the land-owner people also affected the project in terms of time”. Arafat also mentioned that the cadastral measurements and the settlement of the foundation layers of roads were also reasons behind the delay.
In an attempt to accelerate the construction work of the project to meet the deadlines that El-Sisi requested, Major General Adel Turk, recently-appointed head of the Roads and Bridges Authority, threatened the operating companies of the project of exclusion if there is a delay in implementation rates.
“Any slowing company that will not commit to the required rate of work completion will be excluded from the project and another company will be introduced to complete its work. We are obliged to complete the work assigned for the authority within the project in accordance with the schedules specified,” Turk said, adding that he conducted inspection tours to check the implementation works of the project to tackle any obstacles, especially after the authority has received new equipments for construction and maintenance of roads.
Dahi, from his side, said that all the works of all roads are being performed in parallel in accordance with the international specifications and there are weekly follow-up on each implementation site.
Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb stressed, in a previous press statement, the need to ensure safety and security during implementation of these projects, while simultaneously paying attention to quality. He warned that low-quality implementation for any project would not be acceptable, and requested that any company that finds itself unable to implement the project leave the work to others.
“We must set out modified timelines for road projects which will be followed-up on weekly,” Mehleb said, emphasising that each company head would be responsible for the details of each project.
The Roads and Bridges Authority established the Egyptian Company for Quality as an advisory body for all projects so as to guarantee the quality of works and coordinate as well as cooperate with consultants from each contracting company working on the project.
Former head of the Industries’ Chamber Mohamed Al-Qalioubi believes that the road project is fundamental for facilitating the investments. “The national project for roads will serve as new arteries that will pump much-needed investments,” said Al-Qalioubi who praised the excellent thinking of the state officials who paid attention to the road network.
“Due to the fact that we need to attract new investments, paying attention to the national road network was inevitable to be step ahead and well-prepared for these investments,” Al-Qalioubi said, adding that the project will also connect governorates, help in building new cities and increase the population expansion on Egyptian lands.
Al-Qalioubi sees that it is an important project for creating new job opportunities, developing and expanding the land areas to absorb the population density, and providing an opportunity for the largest number of investments.
El-Sisi more than once stressed on the importance of road development as a form of economic empowerment and also said that the project will link governorates through a network of internal roads, as well as a new international road network.
“The national project of roads will not only improve internal trade but it will also increase foreign trade and its movement since it will link the domestic roads’ network with the international one. Economic growth will be positively affected,” Al-Biali said.
According to Dahi, quoted by the Daily News, the amount of goods transported over land in Egypt will rise with the completion of the new road network from 1.5m tonnes to 3.3m tonnes daily. Export-oriented goods will increase from 84,000 tonnes to 260,000 tonnes daily with trip times reduced by 27 per cent.
