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environmental officials on offensive in wadi rayan
[“smog spurs cleanup effort,” december 1999]
having emerged from last fall’s smog attack with increased
authority and credibility, egypt’s environmental ministry is
now setting its sights on problems closer to the ground.
minister of state for environmental affairs nadia mak-ram ebeid
filed a £e 8 million suit in february against ramy siag, organizer
of the egyptian leg of the paris-dakar-cairo rally, for damage caused
by the automobile race. the famed road endurance test sped through
more than half a dozen african countries and ended with champagne
at the giza pyramids.
the ministry, which has enjoyed a much higher profile since the
smog crisis rallied public opinion behind environmental protection,
cites damage inflicted on rare geological formations at wadi rayan,
a fossil-rich site that is home to at least ten species of migratory
birds and was declared a national park in 1989. meanwhile, zahi
hawass, director of the giza pyramids plateau, also filed complaints
against siag with the police after rally participants failed to
clean up their mess on time at the giza plateau.
nn“we are demanding compensation of £e 8 million for
the destruction of bio-diversity in a region (wadi rayan) that is
very sensitive,” mag-dy allam, spokesman at the environmental
affairs ministry, told business month-ly. “the rally organizer
violated law 102/1983. they shouldn’t have gone into the area
in wadi rayan where they pitched their camp.”
nnthe rally, with its 800 participants and complement of cars, trucks,
motorbikes, planes and assorted support vehicles, sped into egypt
from libya on jan. 20 and, after two days camping out at dakhla
oasis airport, zoomed to wadi rayan. the rally drivers used a track
approved by the ministry of tourism, but later deposited their vehicles
and equipment near sensitive geological areas, ministry officials
said.
ebeid stormed the site during the evening when the rallyers arrived
from dakhla oasis, and complained that they were unwittingly destroying
one of the country’s few protected areas.
“we came to cooperate with the drivers and at the same time
to protect the environment. these cars are destroying our heritage,”
ebeid said after urging drivers to consider the environmental impact
of their actions.
ebeid, tipped off by environmentalists about the illegal camp, threatened
to confiscate cars near gebel el mod-awara (the round mountain)
– a particularly rare mound of porous rock on which hundreds
of spectators perched during the rally.
ilaria di silvestre, a biologist with an italian environmental co-operative
working with the ministry in egypt, said that siag had contravened
the conditions set by the ministry of tourism by setting up a massive
tent near gebel el moda-wara.
“the organizers of the rally came here (to gebel el moda-wara)
and set up their bivouac when they were not supposed to,” she
said. “we’ve been working here for three months. when
we saw them pitching the tent we asked them to stop, and they said
they had permission.”
rally officials said they were never informed that wadi rayan was
a protected area.
“when we heard [after the rally] that wadi rayan was a protected
area, we were completely shocked, said roger kalmanovitz, director
of security and external relations for the rally. “it was the
first time we’d heard of it.”
on jan. 23, the final day of the rally, hawass – who has previously
allowed events like squash tournaments and concerts on the giza
plateau – complained to police that siag had not promptly fulfilled
promises to clean up after the rally’s finishing celebration.
“these rallyers made a terrible mess at the pyramids. they
left rubbish everywhere. the wind made an even greater mess of it,”
hawass said. “ramy siag had made promises to clean the mess
straight away after the event, but he didn’t. so we went to
the police station to lodge a complaint.”
but siag, an egyptian hotel owner and travel agent who spent eight
months negotiating with officials and arranging tents to accommodate
rally participants, insisted that he hadn’t done anything illegal.
he admitted that he had been late with the pyramid plateau clean-up
operation, but says he sent over 200 workers to clean up the site
after the rally’s finish – which was attended by tourist
minister mamdouh el-beltagui and about 4,000 others.
“i don’t accept these cases against me,” siag said.
“we received permission from the tourist ministry to go ahead
with the rally in wadi rayan. we had some trouble with waste on
the final day at the pyramids, but we resolved it.”
mahmoud kassem
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false hopes at café riche
[“café riche to re-open,” september 1999]
for one brief, shimmering night, it was just like old times at
café riche. once again, the legendary downtown cultural hotspot
buzzed with life – packed from front to back with members of
cairo’s artistic glitterati. the occasion: a rare public performance
by legendary poet and rabblerouser ahmed fuad negm.
but unfortunately for long-suffering riche-o-philes, the jan. 28
performance wasn’t a sign that riche was finally open for business
again for the first time since 1990. it was a mere mirage, just
the latest in a long-series of false alarms served up by riche over
the past year.
the one-night riche renaissance came together by chance at the tail
end of january’s downtown arts festival. in fact, riche’s
owner didn’t even know that negm was going to be performing
at his place until maybe two hours before showtime when curious
festival-goers started asking him about it.
the owner seemed less than thrilled that the arts festival had co-opted
his place for the night. “i have nothing to do with any of
this,” he grumped from a side room as the main room hummed
with conversation.
he also remains in no particular hurry to get the downtown landmark
open again. the last time that business monthly checked in, the
owner was planning to be open by new year’s. in early february
he wasn’t willing to make any sort of a prediction other than
“soon, god willing.”
ashraf khalil
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multinationals enter cement bidding
[“cement bids spark interest,” february 2000]
the flurry of acquisitions activity that gripped egypt’s cement
sector in january broadened last month, with multinational producers
joining local bidders in a contest for a controlling stake in amreyah
cement co. and competitive position in both the local and global
cement markets.
suez cement’s bid to acquire approximately 65 percent of tora
portland cement via an unsolicited tender went through in late january,
after the egyptian capital market authority refused to consider
a higher, last-minute bid from orascom construction industries.
and as business monthly went to press, a joint venture between france’s
lafarge sa and greek producer titan cement co. was vying with portugal’s
cimpor for majority ownership of amreyah, with bids of £e
102 and £e 100 per share respectively bringing the value of
the offers to more than £e 1 billion. the offers, which were
to close feb. 21 and feb. 23, topped bids from the consortium of
local producers called al ahram cement co. and a joint venture between
cimpor and egyptian cement co., a subsidiary of orascom construction
industries, at levels that analysts said exceeded amreyah’s
worth.
“i feel the £e 100 to £e 102 range, from the financial
point of view, is higher than fair value,” said heba el taw-il,
a cement sector analyst with efg-hermes.
nonetheless, industry observers note, egypt’s value as a domestic
market and foothold for regional competition meant amreyah was worth
acquiring even at a premium.
nn“cimpor is keen to expand regionally and is targeting egypt
as a growth market,” said tarek el-azm, an equity analyst with
fleming ciic securities. “i thought that they might bid directly
to £e 105 to head off another bid at that level. they’re
now leaving room for someone else to go to £e 105.”
nnthe last bid put amreyah at an enterprise value – an index
for pricing cement companies – of $196 per ton, el-azm said,
well in excess of the sector average of $140 per ton and high-er
than the enterprise values of the state-run cement companies the
government sold to strategic investors. it also apparently eliminated
local bidders from the competition for am-reyah’s place in
the country’s rapidly consolidating cement industry. kevin
struve, oci’s director of investor relations, said lafarge-titan’s
last offer had made amreyah “simply too expensive,” and
analysts doubted that al ahram cement co. or any other prospective
local investor would be able to secure financing for a higher bid.
suez cement’s acquisition of approximately 50 percent of tora
portland cement in late january reinforced speculation that the
government was trying to establish a domestic producer capable of
withstanding competition from foreign entrants to the market. and
while suez–tora would be egypt’s largest producer, accounting
for eight million tons annually and a market share over 30 percent,
am-reyeh is regarded as a valuable acquisition for either multinational
bidder.
lafarge-titan in mid-february increased its stake in beni suef cement
to 95 percent, and with the acquisition of amreyah’s efficient
lines would add 2.3 million metric tons of production capacity and
gain control of the cement market in northern egypt. the tender
coincides with lafarge’s hostile bid for the british blue circle,
which ac-quired alexandria portland cement last year.
farouk nasser, chairman of inter-national development consultants,
which is advising lafarge-titan, said that the companies were evaluating
their options after cimpor’s bid.
whatever the outcome of the competition for amreyah, observers not-ed,
the scenario that led to the bidding war could well play itself
out again with other local cement producers, most notably helwan
cement.
“there are going to be international investors among those
interested in helwan, going from the same market share argument,”
said el tawil.
joseph logan
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end of an era at wimpy’s
[“meet your new customers,” may 1998]
he fast food king of egypt, americana group, has closed its last
wimpy’s restaurant.
the familiar landmark at the intersection of gamaat al-duwal al-arabiya
and al-batal ahmed abdel aziz streets in mohandiseen is currently
undergoing renovation and will reopen later this year as a hardees.
while other independently licensed wimpy’s remain open around
cairo (most notably the franchise on hoda shaarawi street downtown),
americana hopes to sway customers from the restaurant, historically
viewed as second tier, to its kentucky fried chicken restaurants.
hoping the class-conscious egyptian will be attracted to kfc’s
reputation as a first tier restaurant, americana has introduced
promotional offers starting at £e 5 per meal for those not
necessarily willing to shell out the £e 10-15 per meal common
at other first tier fast food restaurants. ah-med rashad, kfc’s
assistant marketing director, says he’s confident customers
will continue to return to kfc even after the discount promotions
have ended.
americana’s decision to abandon the venerable wimpy’s
name was partially influenced by the fact that the original founding
chain in the united kingdom has itself shut down. as the first fast
food chain to open in egypt (in 1973) wimpy’s still enjoys
national name recognition. but americana is confident that kfc’s
product recognition will be just as strong since the chain opened
in egypt only two years after wimpy’s, in 1975.
alex sessouky
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