CAIRO: The Cairo Governor promised to examine the situation in Establ Antar after the governorate is done dealing with the Duweiqa crisis, according to Youssry Bayoumy, a Muslim Brotherhood MP.
Experts say the shantytown of Establ Antar is facing a similar rockslide threat to the one which took place in Duweiqa less two weeks ago, leading to over 80 confirmed deaths and possibly hundreds buried under the rubble.
The Cairo governorate’s office told Daily News Egypt that the governorate has not yet issued an “evacuation order to the residents of Establ Antar as it is still busy with Duweiqa.
“The governorate has to make sure that the people in Duweiqa who have now become homeless are provided with alternative housing, before it gets into any other issue, said a source at the governorate on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Bayoumy told Daily News Egypt that Cairo governor Abdel Azim Wazir personally promised to evacuate Establ Antar and provide alternative housing to its residents as soon as the Duweiqa catastrophe is dealt with.
However, Bayoumy continued, until “this moment, neither the Cairo governor nor any official delegation has visited Establ Antar.
Bayoumy had raised the issue ot Establ Antar during a special parliamentary session that took place last Thursday to discuss the Duweiqa rockslide, that witnessed a heated debate between MPs and cabinet ministers.
Last week, Bayoumy also sent a letter to Fathi Sorour, head of the PA, illustrating the danger lurking in the Establ Antar neighborhood.
Bayoumy proposed several reccomendations to solving the problem in the shantytown, including immediate maintenance work to the old sewage system to stop water leakage; and finding solutions to the groundwater problem, which has flooded nearly all the ground floors of buildings in Establ Antar.
He also demanded the government speed up building the sewage system and drinking water project in both the shantytowns of Ezbet Khairallah and Establ Antar for which LE 100 million were allocated in November 2007.
