Transport Committee
Project to introduce luxury bus services
The Transport Committee met on November 13 with guest speakers Ali S. Huzayyin, professor of transport and traffic engineering and planning at Cairo University’s Faculty of Engineering, and Mohamed Bayoumi, assistant resident representative at UNDP Egypt. The meeting addressed the topic “UNDP Sustainable Transport Initiative: promotion of private sector investment in public transport.”
Huzayyin and Bayoumi explained that the UNDP Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) plan to initiate a sustainable transport project in collaboration with the Development Research & Technological Planning Center at Cairo University. One of the project’s objectives is to introduce private luxury bus services to Cairo with the goal of encouraging car users to shift to buses. This would help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption and traffic congestion on the project’s selected corridors.
One of the bus services will include three express lines that connect Sixth of October City, Tahrir, Sheikh Zayed, Media Production City and Dreamland. An internal line within Sixth of October City will act as a feeder to the three lines. The other bus service will include four express lines to feed the metro (park & ride style). Routes will run from Zeitoun and Almaza to the Saray Al Kobba metro station, and from Maadi and New Maadi to the Maadi metro station.
This new system will include modern buses, a passenger information system and the integration of “contact-less” tickets for use with the metro system. The project will provide engineering designs, training and ticket technology, while the Ministry of Housing is expected to provide land for terminals and stops. There will also be opportunities for “out the fare box financing,” such as advertising on buses and at stations and stops, as well as shops and cafeterias at terminals.
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Opportunities in the transportation sector
The Transport Committee held a meeting on September 19 with guest speaker Omar El Bakary, deputy minister of transport. The meeting addressed the topic of “Development in the transportation sector, with special focus on opportunities available for private sector involvement.”
El Bakary opened with a detailed presentation on future plans within each of the different transportation sectors, while stressing the important role that transport will play in achieving further economic growth and the need for private sector involvement. He explained that the Ministry of Transport aims to pull back from operations to become primarily a regulatory body. As such, the ministry intends to make several tender announcements for such private public partnerships (PPPs).
The Ministry of Transport has engaged plans to improve the nation’s transportation infrastructure, including locomotives, train stations, ports, river transport, roads and bridges, over the next five years. It is also, particularly in the maritime sector, working to improve safety, attract investment, improve management and automate systems. El Bakary cited Alexandria’s port, which recently reopened after extensive renovations and modernization, as a successful example of such improvements.
In discussing the potential for river transport, El Bakary was also optimistic. He noted that although goods transported by river decreased to 0.3 percent in 1996, there have been concerted efforts to improve the impediments associated with such transport. A project to clear navigation channels is nearing completion, and agreements with seven governorates are already in place to establish river ports. Opportunities exist for the private sector to manage and operate river transport services.
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