Potential laws and regulations implications

Through the research process, it was clear that the status of elevated urban highways in Greater Cairo cannot be reconsidered without reconsidering the status of the local urban policies.

Rethinking Cairo’s elevated urban highways need to start from minor legal decisions (laws and regulations) to major policy and planning decisions. Through the points tackled within the scope of this research, understanding laws and regulations that relate to how the community interacts with the elevated urban highways will lead to better understanding of the whole situation and of dealing with it. For example, laws that touch upon road regulations, public road occupation, and advertising on streets and the responsibility of urban management are all relevant to the discussion.

On the other side, urban policies that relate to transportation and planning inside the urban mass can all help changing the situation of Cairo’s elevated urban highways within the coming future.

The far most important legislative step that practically limits or helps in avoiding the negative impacts of elevated highways is the environmental impact assessment (EIA). The Egyptian law of environment law 4/1994 required all new projects to submit an environmental impact assessment.

Yet minor gaps in such law made projects like the elevated urban highways seem feasible despite all the apparent impacts. There is a tendency for large and politically driven projects to bypass EIA (Manchester, 2000). Such fact leaves the big scale elevated urban highway projects out of the question when it comes to impact. Moreover, the EIA step only appears after choosing the location, therefore, valid options of alternative locations are nonexistent. Reconsidering such minor gaps in the legislative system is a must to be able to critically question the impacts the future elevated highway projects.

107 The wide variety of responses that were obvious through the interviews regarding ownership and responsibility of spaces below the elevated highways reflects misconception by the interviewees.

Therefore, clarification of some regulations and entity responsibilities might be beneficial.

For example, Law, no 140/1956 on Public Road Occupation states that a license from the responsible authority needs to be obtained in the case of any work conducted on public roads. Such works include:

 Fixing shelves, sheds, umbrellas, seats, tables, kiosks and any similar feature on sidewalks or public roads.

 Installing equipment’s related to concerts, weddings, fairs, and decorations.

 Leaving movables or extending shops over sidewalks and streets (except for limited time or loading and unloading activities without disrupting traffic)

 Planting trees on sidewalks and public roads (yet if planted they are considered public property) (Fahmy, 2013).

Such article touch upon many of the activities spotted under the elevated highways. Fixing shelves, shed, seats, tables, and kiosk were all spotted under Saft El Laban Corridor. As the law clearly states that permission needs to be obtained from the local authority, the commonly known law in Saft El Laban is that the permission needs to be obtained from the owner of the opposite property.

Extending shops and leaving a movable space for loading and unloading were very dominant in the case of El Azhar area. While the law states that this should not disrupt the traffic it was made clear by interviewees that El Azhar bridge presence is important in order to keep the local street for loading and unloading activity. Such perception tuned the local street function from mobility to loading decks. Planting trees was also an activity spotted under Saft El Laban corridor while the locals perceived as a way of space occupation to prevent waste dumping in such space.

Another example is Law 119/2008 the Building Law and its executive regulations with reference to the National Organization of Urban Harmony which states the following:

 The street advertisement is regarded as a temporary street occupation, which can be removed any time.

 No advertisement can be installed without the license and permission of the local authority (National Organization For Urban Harmony, 2010)

108 Such law can relate to the advertisement campaign implemented over the structure of the 15^th of May bridge. While the street advertisement is regarded by law as a temporary street occupation with no responsibilities, the interviewees in Zamalek referred to the advertisement company as the entity responsible for maintaining and cleaning the spaces under the elevated structure. This refers to misconceptions from the community regarding ownership and maintenance obligations. Yet the case of El Zamalek presents a good practice were granting the advertisement company more control came with maintenance duties and beautification of the area. Such practice can inspire new regulations within the law.

Law 43/1979 of Local Administration define the duties of local units and administrative districts, Article no 183 states the responsibilities of the local units which include:

o Implementation and provision of waste management, collection of street waste, waste from public spaces and general public road cleanliness

o Monitoring, regulation and licensing of street vendors and road occupation activities

o Regulating and implementation of rules regarding temporary utilization of space and usufruct⁷ (Tadamun, n.d.)

Such law clarifies the duties and responsibilities of the local administrative units. General public space cleanliness is the responsibility of local unit according to the law yet in the case of Saft El Laban, it is seen as the responsibility of the cafes occupying the space. On the other hand, in the case of 15^th of May bridge, it is seen as the responsibility of the advertisement company.

Monitoring and regulation of the spaces under the elevated structure is perceived in Saft El Laban as the responsibility of property owners overlooking the elevated structure while it is the local unit’s responsibility. While in the case of Zamalek monitoring and regulating the usufruct is applied by the authority like the case of El Sawy culture wheel which developed a usufruct right with the authority.

7 Usufruct is the right to use a space or a property owned by another person (in that case public entity) in exchange for annual fees. The person granted the usufruct right has all the rights of the owner except for the right of selling and transferring the ownership.

109 The misconceptions between different interviewees regarding space occupation rights and maintenance responsibilities reflect how important it is to clarify the laws and regulations of using such spaces. It was noticed through the field work those perceptions developed differently in different areas where Saft El Laban residents claimed ownership over those spaces, El Azhar street shop owners were granted control of such spaces, and in the case of Zamalek the authority is still claiming the control of the space. The location of such spaces as forgotten spaces in the public road but not part of the flow will always create vagueness in terms of rights and regulations.

Clarification of such spaces’ rights, regulations, and how the perceptions change from one area to another can be an individual topic open for further research in the future.