The construction in Greater Cairo of a highway bridge which is located in some places about a meter from apartment buildings arouses the anger of the residents as well as an outcry on social networks and in the local Egyptian press.
Images of the incredible construction site in residential districts of Guizeh, a district that covers the entire west of the Egyptian capital, were widely disseminated online and then by the country's media.
For the less fortunate of the inhabitants concerned, the still unfinished work stands so close to their loggias that they just have to reach out to touch it. "When a car passes, its driver is invited to drink tea on the balcony (...) I who had moved here to get some air ..." , said on condition of anonymity the owner of an apartment to a local newspaper.
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Faced with outcry, Transport Minister Kamel al-Ouazir tried to justify the project, saying that the bridge was "of capital importance". "We cannot sacrifice the interest of the entire governorate for one, two or ten buildings," he said on local television on Wednesday.
The highway bridge, which is to connect the north to the south of the governorate of Giza, will be used daily by 750,000 vehicles, said Ouazir. The official added that he would serve a future train station in the Bechtil district, north of Giza.
A ministerial committee has been formed to provide "injured residents" with new housing, he added. The minister reiterated that "there are no other alternatives" to the work which has been baptized "King Salman bridge" , in reference to the Saudi sovereign, whose country has close relations with the Egypt.
