(Photo by Bishoy Beshara)
The Ministry of Antiquities, the governorate of Cairo and the Ministry of Interior have begun implementing a project involving the closing off of Gamaliya Street in the historic Old Cairo and converting it into an open-air museum for pedestrians, similarly to the famous Al-Moez Street, said Minister of Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim. The minister confirmed that the plan has been approved by the cabinet.
Ibrahim clarified that the project to convert the street into a pedestrian-only zone and museum comes under the bigger goal of renovating historic Cairo with a cost of up to EGP 56m, which includes renovating facades and floors on the street from Bab Al-Nasr to Mashhad Al-Husseiny as well as the area from the intersection of Ghouri Mosque and Al-Azhar Street to Bab Zuweila.
Project Manager Mohamed Abdel Aziz said that the ministry has signed a contract with a company hired to fix and operate electronic gates on Moez Street, paving the way for a new project on Sunday to raise the general standards of the street with a cost of EGP 2.3m, funded by the Ministry of Tourism.
Before the January 2011 Revolution, the street was off-limits to automobiles. After the revolution, the law had been ignored in the aftermath of the chaos. Reverting the street to a pedestrian-only zone will be achieved through the cooperation of the Ministry of Interior, represented by the tourism police, the Gamaliya Police Station, the Cairo Security Directorate and the Cairo governorate.
Abdel Aziz added that all regular operations, including fixing granite floors and painting facades and woodwork for shops, of the first phase have been concluded, and that all operations will be completed by February. The aim of the project is that the street be presented free of vandalism, which had appeared after the 2011 revolution.
