Concern is growing among residents of Cairo’s Warraq Island that their access to construction materials could soon be further restricted as local authorities take steps to alter key ferry access points to the Nile island.
Two residents told Mada Masr that authorities proposed plans in recent days to relocate one of the main car ferries serving residents on the island, before authorities began work to alter ferry landing docks on Wednesday.
The development comes after a week of renewed clashes between security officials and residents of Warraq ended with a
sit-in and talks
on Monday with security authorities. The
clashes
are part of wider
pressure
residents
are facing
as the government advances its own development plans there.
The two residents said they noticed local authorities undertaking works to prepare a new designated area to relocate the car ferry serving residents on Wednesday.
The work involved expanding the government ferry’s landing site on the island, one of the residents told Mada Masr, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A video filmed by an island resident and viewed by Mada Masr shows the works underway to prepare the site for the new ferry landing. Three residents confirmed seeing the same construction activity visible in the footage.
Just two days earlier, security officials had proposed moving the car ferry from its current site at the Qolaly landing dock to a site closer to the government-operated ferry used to transport construction materials for the state’s development projects, according to the same two residents, who attended the meeting and told Mada Masr they had rejected the proposal.
They said the proposal was to separate the Qolaly car ferry from the passenger ferry at the same site on the pretext of “limiting the recurrence of crises.”
Authorities made the proposal during negotiations to end the sit-in that residents had begun last week outside the Qolaly ferry landing, beneath the Tahya Misr Bridge, protesting heightened security measures, following days of renewed clashes between residents and security forces.
But the residents said they interpreted the proposal as aimed at preventing them from gathering at the same crossing during disputes with security forces, as
clashes
resurface repeatedly over attempts to bring construction materials onto the island to repair existing homes and build new ones for families living there.
Authorities promised to accede to the residents’ demands, and residents accordingly ended the sit-in, only for the government to begin the construction activity just two days later.
“When they started work at the new site, we became certain” that the authorities were moving ahead with plans to relocate the ferry,
one of the residents
told Mada Masr.
Nearly nine years after the government began its intervention on Warraq Island, restrictions on movement in and out, particularly on the entry of construction materials, remain a major source of tension with residents. The restrictions are intended to prevent families from undertaking further construction that could hinder the progress of a state-backed investment project on land that the government has acquired across most of the island.
Residents have said that construction materials are allowed onto the island in limited quantities and with security approval. They said they sometimes bring materials by boat or private vehicle, leading to confrontations when security forces stop vehicles at the ferry.
Security forces have already shut down three of the five ferries that used to tie the Nile island to the rest of the city, while they have erected checkpoints at the Qolaly and Shubra landing sites.
During Monday’s negotiations, security officials proposed the introduction of a permit system for construction materials, under which residents could seek prior approval to carry out building work, and a committee formed by the relevant authorities would review applications and issue permits.
The Housing Ministry, however, denied in a Wednesday
statement
that the New Warraq Island Development Authority had permitted the delivery of any construction materials or supplies to enter the island.
The sit-in that began Sunday, during which residents blocked the government-run ferry, was what prompted authorities to negotiate, residents said. The talks were conducted primarily through security officials, particularly the National Security Agency, which residents said took …