This is just fast but it seems that one of Mohamed Morsi’s early decisions or projects is truly going to change Egypt or rather change one of Egypt’s natural treasures forever !! The new elected president is reviving the terrible bridge between Egypt and Saudi Arabia in the red sea in his talks with the Saudis.
Yes the terrible bridge that will destroy the eco-system in the red sea is back and the newly elected president wants it !!
As I expected the Muslim brotherhood and its youth online are supporting the bridge and defending it. Already I fear that they are preparing for a nasty defense starting from claiming that the environmental NGOs get paid to say these warnings and ending by saying that Israel is fighting this project. I know their media machine will claim that the bridge will bring welfare to the country more than the beach tourism and the bridge is away from Ras Mohamed natural despite it will pass with Tiran Island natural reserve !!
I know that the MB media machine will claim that the bridge will save the Egyptians from the ferries of death curse , people who support the bridge already believe so. The problem of the ferries is not in the ferries but the corruption and violating the laws in time of Mubarak. All the countries that got ferries system do not have disaster like ours because of corruption and neglect.
If you have modern ferries , not old ones and you obey the laws and regulations when it comes to capacity and maintenance , you will not have death ferries but real ferries for human use.
Economically this bridge will revive Sinai for real , what could revive Sinai for real is the Suez canal zone development project along the reclamation of the mid zone.
Now the National Conservation Egypt “NCE” made a great Paper about the environmental impacts of that bridge. It summarizes everything.
We want to translate this in to Arabic.
NCE is from the best environmental NGOs that is trying to create an awareness in Egypt when it comes to environment online.
Strangely I remember that I warned on twitter that the Muslim brotherhood and their allies from Salafists last time this matter was brought. I hate to be right again.
Again I am asking the help of the world because many Egyptians are not interested in saving their environment.
Yes the terrible bridge that will destroy the eco-system in the red sea is back and the newly elected president wants it !!
As I expected the Muslim brotherhood and its youth online are supporting the bridge and defending it. Already I fear that they are preparing for a nasty defense starting from claiming that the environmental NGOs get paid to say these warnings and ending by saying that Israel is fighting this project. I know their media machine will claim that the bridge will bring welfare to the country more than the beach tourism and the bridge is away from Ras Mohamed natural despite it will pass with Tiran Island natural reserve !!
I know that the MB media machine will claim that the bridge will save the Egyptians from the ferries of death curse , people who support the bridge already believe so. The problem of the ferries is not in the ferries but the corruption and violating the laws in time of Mubarak. All the countries that got ferries system do not have disaster like ours because of corruption and neglect.
If you have modern ferries , not old ones and you obey the laws and regulations when it comes to capacity and maintenance , you will not have death ferries but real ferries for human use.
Economically this bridge will revive Sinai for real , what could revive Sinai for real is the Suez canal zone development project along the reclamation of the mid zone.
Now the National Conservation Egypt “NCE” made a great Paper about the environmental impacts of that bridge. It summarizes everything.
We want to translate this in to Arabic.
NCE is from the best environmental NGOs that is trying to create an awareness in Egypt when it comes to environment online.
Strangely I remember that I warned on twitter that the Muslim brotherhood and their allies from Salafists last time this matter was brought. I hate to be right again.
Again I am asking the help of the world because many Egyptians are not interested in saving their environment.
Is good that the NGO are putting effort into studying the drawbacks of the project, but unfortunately they did little effort and did not get into real assessment.
ReplyDeleteTwo things only they are sure of, which are the destruction of island of tiran and the tourists will be annoyed, and this is minor things.
If the damage would be confined to that, so we should keep going.
Also, where in the study they said the read sea would be destroyed :)
A little effort ???
Deletewhen if first read the study, i found them using (could) in more than 95% of the sentences, strange for a scientific study. Now I looked in references and strangely, there are no scientific references at all!!.
DeleteI hope the gov undergo a similar study because apparently this one is almost wrote on the fly??!
Yes, A real study study wont use that amount of "could", and would give us assessment for the size of affected areas, severity of damage, like the percentage of lost reefs and fish, the currents change they talked about could be easily simulated and then it effect stuied.
DeleteIf you know these guys, and they plan to take this further, I and my mother would be more than happy to help. I am an engineer(researcher) and she is a marine biologist.
@mohamed amir
DeleteI totally agree with you,but I think it will have consequences (I am an engineer too -researcher- and have worked on similar projects before where environmental effects were taken into account). A tunnel might be better but it will cost 3-4 times more (bridge construction estimated at 3-4 billions $ while tunnel construction estimated at least at 10 billions $)
Sure it will have consequences, and I really hope that the gov make a damage assessment study before taking decision.
Deleteand i prefer the tunnel too, and I think if Egypt opened this for private sector, they may get investors willing to pay the 10-12b
The Bridge will cause a huge harm to the environment I do agree. I work as a Marine Captain & I worked before on the disastrous Al Salam Boccaccio 98 it self earlier in 2001. At that time not only that the RoRo Passenger vessel (ferry) was not maintained but also the machinery exhaust was out of proportion & harmful to the environment due to old machinery & quality of heavy & light fuels used ( containing high sulpher content) & bilge water ( which is a mix of oils & chemicals from the running of the machinery) was disposed to the red sea during night time, further more unprocessed waste & garbage bags were dumped to the sea, knowing that the Red sea is one of 6 special areas where you are not supposed to dump anything at all (only processed food waste 12 NM away from coast). This is as a result of not having coast guard & patrolling choppers to protect your 1 million KM coast line.
ReplyDeleteAS for the bridge if it is constructed from recycled materials & enviro-friendly materials & part of the revenue is dedicated for the maintenance & upkeeping of the environment the impact will be reduced but the environment will still suffer an impact. On the other hand, anything which is economically feasible is by nature destroying the environment starting from paper production which destroys forests to what ever you can name it. What our 3rd world government see is the greenery of the US dollars & no other greenery is to be considered. Let's be frank it is not in our culture. (twitter @samerseaman) Samer Osman
The Saudis can afford to pay for it but I hate to think what Saudi Arabia's environment is like. I've never heard of a Saudi organization for environmental protection even though the Prophet would not agree that man has the right to rape the earth.
ReplyDeleteAs well having worked in vessels supporting the petroleum industry in Egypt I would highly support the shut down of most Gulf of Suez Petroleum Installations due to the extensive damage they cause to the environment. Samer Osman
ReplyDeleteI came across this site by chance;
ReplyDeletehttp://www.aina.org/news/20120220132501.htm
It was in April before the Egypt Election
Check it out and analyze your presnt.
May god save Egypt from the devil
Well.. which will cause more harm to the environment.. The vessels and ferries and their continuous dumps of different kinds of waste, sewage, fuel and exhaust or the one time erection of the bridges bases and foundation? Where's the study of each impact?
ReplyDeleteWhat the percentage of cost share between Egypt and SA?
Once again the MB seek to isolate Egypt by only focusing on ties with other Arab countries who have political and religious interests here... exactly how will this revive the Sinai? Tourists from Saudi? I think not, or an endless stream of religious tourism on their way over - with all my respect, Sharm and other cities in the Sinai are the cleanest in Egypt, that would certainly not last long! It is not only the conservation of the sea that we have to worry about but our land as well ... Ask why would Saudi pay for such a project, the answer is obvious, to get a stronger hold in Egypt and turn it into its poorer cousin with a major debt. Here we go again letting people who think only about themselves and their goals rule the country, no one is looking at our country's poor, no one is looking at the security, no one is cleaning the streets, no one is looking any further than religion to increase industry. Shameful is an understatement!
ReplyDeleteIf you think that we attack the idea of building a bridge because we are the beneficiaries:
ReplyDelete1-You are defending the concrete jungle and I defend nature
2-I do not think of those who go there for tourism I think someone who works there to tourism
3-Not to build the bridge did not stop you from traveling to work in the Gulf, but its construction will prevent millions of working in tourism
4-You think of the suffering go and return once a year and do not think that people will lose their livelihoods and will suffer throughout the year
unless You must provide them the opportunity to work in the Gulf, before closing the door of their livelihood in their homelands
عجبني البلوج والدراسة اللي معمولة.. الدراسة مبذول فيها جهد جيد.. عندي كام ملحوظة بس بختلف معاكي فيها شوية يا ريت تقبليهم بصدر رحب، وعادي يمكن أكون أنا غلطان..
ReplyDelete1- أي مشروع صناعي له تأثير في بدايته على البيئة، يعني لو قررنا نعمل مبنى في الصحراء هنؤثر بشكل ما على البيئة المحيطة، ولو قررنا إننا ما نفضل محافظين ع البيئة المحيطة دايما فمش هنعمل أي حاجة، وفي نفس الوقت، ده مش معناه إن "طز" في البيئة ويلاّ يا جدع اعمل كل اللي نفسك فيه والفكر المادي ده اللي بيخلي الإنسان كإنه عايش لوحده ومفيش كائنات تانية معاه، فأنا شايف لازم يكون في حل وسط، الحفاظ على الثروة البرية أو البحرية بشكل ما عن طريق تهيئة بيئة مماثلة ليهم ونقلهم ليها مثلا، لغاية ما يتم إنجاز المشروع، سواء بنتكلم على المشروع ده أو أي مشروع تاني هيكون له تأثير على الكائنات اللي عايشة..
2- معجبنيش بصراحة آخر كام سطر إن يلاّ يا عالم تعالوا ساعدونا علشان كتير من المصريين مش هاممهم :).. العالم نفسه أساسا بيعمل بلاوي أكبر من دي :).. وأكيد انت تعرفي عن مليون جسر معمول في الماء ولو قرأتي عن الكوارث البحرية اللي سببها بردو مش هتلاقيها أقل :).. بكتب النقطة دي مش علشان أقول إن المصريين هايلين وكويسين.. بس معجبنيش فكرة تصدير إن احنا محتاجين مساعدة وتدخل.. احنا محتاجين توعية في مصر بشكل كبير الأول ونشوف رد الفعل قبل ما نطلب من غيرنا.. وأنا بكتب النقطة دي علشان عارف إن أكيد كتير غير مصريين بيقرأوا كتاباتك :)..
3- مش لازم يكون في دايما نبرة إن الإخوان هيقولوا كذا كذا وإنهم هيبرروا كذا كذا :).. البلوجّ نُصّها بتتكلم بنفس منطق نظرية المؤامرة :).. مش كل واحد بيبرر الموضوع يبقى إخوان وله أغراض، ومش كل واحد إخوان هيبرر الموضوع أصلا :).. فمن رأيي الشخصي إنك مكنتيش محتاجة تتكلمي عنهم كتير وكان كفاية تعرضي الموضوع نفسه لوحده.. (ملحوظة: أنا مش إخوان ولا سلفي ولا بأنتمي لأي حزب.. أنا واحد مع نفسي كدة D:)
بشكرك على الموضوع وإن شاء الله نلاقي حلّ ميعطّلش الناحية الاقتصادية وفي نفس الوقت ما يدمّرش الحياة البحرية..
لو كنتي هتردّي عليّ، فبس اديني منشن على تويتر علشان مش عارف هيجيلي نوتيفيكشن بردّك ولاّ لأ :)
@SherifKhairy
بشكرك تاني على إثارة الموضوع ده، وشكرا للي عملوا الدراسة دي..
My blood is boiling now, I wrote before in different blogs on how the conditions of the water in Sharm is deteriorating!!!! 20 or so years ago I went to Sharm for the first time and I was amazed at the beauty it has, I thought it was probably because of the wars with Israel that it was kept in good condition because no one abused it for a long time. I then took a taxi ride with one of the natives who had lived through the Israeli occupation and I asked him a question: how was is it like during the occupation? His answer was (I wish those days would come back again, and he sighed) he then wen on and on and I thought how unpatriotic he was, but then I thought that was his own opinion. Now, and after so many visits I'm sorry to say that I think he was unfortunately right!!!! Please don't take it the wrong way, go ahead and meet some of the people who had lived there during the occupation and ask them yourself, I bet you 99% will agree with that old man!!! God bless Egypt and its people and open their eyes to the real problems.
ReplyDeleteI get the same replies "fein ayam el khawagat" from the older Egyptian generation when we talk about the 1940's & 1950's jobs, businesses, cleanliness, services,etc compared to today.
DeleteThe Egyptian government demonized the Khawagas and did nothing to fill the vacuum after they left.
The bridge will definitely ruin one of the major tourist attractions of Sharm el-Sheikh. However the area is not pristine nature, but the Sinai's coast in the region is completely covered with hotels. If you can't prevent the bridge you can maybe get some other effort to conserve the marine environment instead.
ReplyDeleteAs area is full of hotels, many hotel owners are probably against the bridge. They could be wealthy allies of environmental groups. These hotel owners could also help to asses the business aspects of the bridge. (For example: Is there adequate road capacity for the additional traffic of the bridge?) Maybe the project is really just an other grandiose project, that does not make any sense business wise, like high speed maglev trains.
Maybe you can barter, and get some other effort to conserve the marine environment if you accept the bridge. For example better waste water treatment, also for boats, and an affordable solution for small huts on the coastline. If marine life is already declining, like stated in some tweets, then pollution is probably a big issue.
The aesthetic aspect of the bridge is IMHO not so bad, because the area seems to be like an urban landscape. From a few kilometers away it would look like a narrow band close to the horizon, and (at least) two slender towers. From close by, it off course destroys the feeling that you are in nature. This will ruin the tourist value of the reef where the bridge would be placed, even in case the corral reefs themselves recover. In principle one could build some sort of tourist attractions into the bridge as a partial compensation, like: cable car over the top of the bridge towers, observation deck, facilities for bungee jumping. For and example how the bridge would look like, see the bridge between Denmark and Sweden:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%98resund_Bridge
Eike.
Z,
ReplyDeleteYou and all the idiot activists voted for Morsi.... Eshraby.