Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has ordered a Cairo greening project that would turn vacated spaces across the capital into green areas, alongside ongoing efforts to restore historic and Islamic Cairo and redevelop areas surrounding heritage sites.
Al-Sisi reviewed plans to revive Cairo’s historic landmarks during a meeting with senior officials, including the restoration of historic mosques and shrines and the creation of integrated tourist routes connecting heritage sites, the presidency said in a statement.
Religious Endowments Minister Osama al-Azhari said the projects were intended to turn the historic heart of Cairo into an open visitor destination and link multiple landmarks through tourist routes designed to attract more visitors.
Cairo Governor Ibrahim Saber also reviewed work to restore parts of Khedival, historic and Islamic Cairo and upgrade infrastructure in and around historic districts.
Al-Sisi instructed government agencies to continue restoring heritage sites and redeveloping surrounding areas, while using spaces cleared through redevelopment to increase greenery in the capital.
The presidency did not provide a target area, timetable or budget for the proposed Cairo greening project.
Officials also reviewed plans by the Egyptian Endowments Authority to develop its property assets and expand cooperation with specialised companies and real estate developers.
Al-Sisi called for continued inventorying and documentation of the authority’s properties to protect the endowments and improve the use of its assets in accordance with the conditions set by their original donors.
According to a study published in 2022 in the Journal of Engineering and Applied Science, Cairo lost about 910,894 square metres of its green spaces between 2017 and 2020. In 2020, the per capita share of green spaces in Egypt decreased by 0.3 square metres below the planned average for the same year, which was set at 1 square metre, according to the government’s Vision 2030 for development.
The government plan expects the per capita share of urban green spaces to reach 3 square metres by 2030. However, Egypt’s Minister of Environment stated in May 2023 that the per capita share of green spaces had reached 1.2 square metres, with a target of 3 square metres by 2030.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a minimum per capita share of 9 square metres of green space within a 15-minute walk from home.
