David Sims - Egypt’s Desert Dreams: Development or Disaster?

EGYPTS DESERT DREAMS

EGYPTS DESERT DREAMS

Development or Disaster?

David Sims

Foreword by Timothy Mitchell

The American University in Cairo Press

Cairo New York

This electronic edition published in 2015 by

The American University in Cairo Press

113 Sharia Kasr el Aini, Cairo, Egypt

420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018

www.aucpress.com

Copyright 2015 by David Sims

First published in hardback in 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN 978 977 416 668 6

eISBN 9781 61797 638 4

Version 1

Contents

Figures

1 Neolithic rock carvings near Kharga Oasis

2 Qasr al-Sagha, Middle Kingdom temple north of Lake Qarun, Fayoum

3 Cleared and marked-out desert, attributed to Amenophis III, Eighteenth Dynasty, Luxor West Bank

4 Roman fortress at Deir al-Munira, Kharga Oasis

5 Perimeter wall of Saint Pauls Monastery, South Galala Plateau, Red Sea Governorate

6 Muslim tombs near Qalamun, Dakhla Oasis

7 Smallholder farms and settlement (Qaryat al-Tahrir), al-Nubariya, Buheira Governorate

8 Mostly failed agricultural cooperative holdings off CairoIsmailiya Desert Road, Ismailiya Governorate

9 Wad al-yadd smallholding competing with a public housing project for land on the desert fringe, Armant, west bank of Luxor Governorate

10 New established central pivot farming, north Toshka

11 East Uwaynat land reclamation project

12 Lake Nasser at Abu Simbel

13 Central pivot irrigation for the cultivation of alfalfa (bersim), Toshka

14 Plasticulture on wad al-yadd reclaimed lands, Western Desert fringes, al-Minya Governorate

15 Fields prepared for drip irrigation, wad al-yadd reclamation, 75Western Desert fringes, al-Minya Governorate

16 New Lands Development Project, Bangar al-Sukkar, Nubariya

17 The al-Hammam Canal and very sparse orchard reclamation at Kilometer 52

18 The al-Hammam Canal Extension, Kilometer 4

19 Typical section of West Delta Project area along CairoAlexandria Desert Road

20 Southwest extension of Wadi Natrun investor reclamation area using high-salinity groundwater

21 Southern half of the Salihiya Reclamation Project off the CairoIsmailiya Desert Road

22 Mit Abul Kom al-Gadid cooperative, East Bitter Lakes Reclamation Area, Sinai

23 Tomato crop, wad al-yadd fields, fringe of Western Desert, al-Minya Governorate

24 Extensive wad al-yadd fields near Deshna, Qena Governorate

25 Contrasting intensity and productivity of cultivation, Old Lands and New Lands

26 Entrance to New Qena City

27 New Qena City, established 2000

28 Burg al-Arab New Town, established 1978

29 Al-Ubur New Town layout, 1990

30 Public housing estates, Tenth of Ramadan New Town

31 Individual housing subdivision started in 2003 in al-Shuruq New Town

32 Qattamiya Heights private-developer compound with golf course

33 Ibni Beitak subdivision, Sixth of October New Town

34 Sewage outfall from treatment plant, Tenth of Ramadan New Town

35 Part of Ahmed Orabi Agricultural Cooperative, off the CairoIsmailiya Desert Road

36 Uptown Cairo luxury compound, al-Muqattam, Cairo

37 Uninhabited al-zahir al-sahrawi village, off Western Desert Road, al-Minya Governorate

38 Uninhabited al-zahir al-sahrawi village, off Wadi al-Rayan Road, Fayoum Governorate

39 Uninhabited al-zahir al-sahrawi village, adjacent to Izbit al-Gabal, Fayoum Governorate

40 Land reclamation village, Sahil al-Tina, Sinai

41 Large informal Eastern Desert fringe settlement near al-Wasta, Beni Suef Governorate

42 Informal sprawl into the desert, south of Dandara, Qena Governorate

43 Informal sprawl into the desert, South Fayoum

44 Madinaty, huge development by Talaat Mustafa Group, New Cairo

45 Wall-to-wall tourist village development, South Hurghada

46 Tourist village 51 kilometers north of Marsa Alam with 670-meter reef walkway

47 Holiday chalet units under construction at Ain Sukhna

48 Ras Abu Soma resort complex

49 New tourist village at Ras Banas, 114 kilometers south of Marsa Alam

50 Naama Bay at Sharm al-Sheikh, South Sinai

51 Summer resorts west of Sidi Krir

52 Exposed whale fossil at Wadi al-Rayan Nature Protectorate

53 Heavy Industry Zone, Tenth of Ramadan City

54 Core of Industrial Zone, Sixth of October City

55 Largely vacant Qift Industrial Zone, Qena Governorate

56 Most developed section of Wadi al-Tiknilujya industrial zone, Ismailiya Governorate

57 Sector One of the Gulf of Suez Industrial Zone

58 Ismailiya Small Industries Cluster, Industrial Projects Authority

59 Small and Medium Enterprises Subdivision, Sixth of October Industrial Zone

60 Ras ShuqeirRas Gharib Petroleum Zone

61 SafagaKharga Railway, disused switching yards at Qena

62 SafagaKharga Railway, abandoned line

63 Western Desert Highway near Mallawi

64 Giza Governorate Cemetery on Fayoum Road

65 Effluent outfall from the Sixth of October sewage treatment plant

66 Rubble dumped along Fayoum Road near Sixth of October City

Maps

1 The Western Desert

2 Northern part of the Eastern Desert

3 Sinai Peninsula

4 Development corridor proposed by Farouk El-Baz

5 Al-Salam/Sheikh Jabir al-Sabah Canal Project

6 Clean slate site of Madinat al-Sadat as planned in 1978

7 Locations of New Towns and New Settlements as planned in 1983

8 The eight New Towns of Greater Cairo with 2009 boundaries

9 Location of the new towns in Egypt

10 Locations of the largest nature protectorates in Egypt

11 Gulf of Suez Industrial Area

Tables

1 GARPAD statistics on reclaimed land in Egypt 195097

2 Horizontal expansion projects

3 Populations of established New Towns, various years

4 Desert population estimates, 1996 and 2006

Plates

1 Graduate smallholder settlement (Qaryat al-Tabarani) and fields in al-Nubariya

2 Disorganized smallholder reclamation in the Kharga Oasis

3 Agribusiness olive grove irrigated with groundwater, south of the CairoAlexandria Desert Road

4 Irrigation canal system built in the early 1980s and never used, Qena Governorate

5 Olive grove irrigated with groundwater in agribusiness farm off al-Alamein Desert Road, Wadi Natrun

6 Wadi al-Rayan smallholder and graduate reclamation scheme with wad al-yadd extensions, Fayoum Governorate

7 The largest land reclamation scheme on Lake Nasser, showing the problems of lake level changes

8 Salihiya Canal eastern extension in 2004 and cooperative farms, Ismailiya Governorate

9 Salihiya Canal extension in 2013

10 The most southerly reclamation attempts south of Kharga on the Darb al-Arbain in 2012

11 Successful wad al-yadd fields, Western Desert, Minya Governorate

12 Wad al-yadd fields near Deshna, Qena Governorate

13 Small investor attempting to grow olive trees on desert fringe using drip irrigation, Western Desert, Beni Suef Governorate

14 Al-Salam Canal, west of Suez Canal, Port Said Governorate

15 Entrance road to uninhabited Fayoum New Town, off Western Desert Highway

16 Juxtaposition of new-town subdivision and semi-formal reclamation using Nile water, Burg al-Arab New Town

17 Smallholder reclamation and new public housing, Kharga Oasis, near Kharga City

18 Uninhabited zahir al-sahrawi village, west bank of Nile, Qena Governorate