Ring Road Development

Ring Road Development

- Rasha Sayed

Socio-economic and Cultural Sustainable Development

Cairo, one of the greatest metropolitan cities in the world, the urban agglomeration of Cairo, designated as the Greater Cairo Metropolitan Area (GCMA), is the largest urban area in Egypt, Africa, and the Middle East and amongst the most populous metropolises of the world. In 2006, its population reached 17 million people spread across the governorates of Cairo, Giza and Qalyobiya as well as many new cities. The heartbeat of the metropolises’ transport system is Ring Road, connecting all of the main arterial zones and settlements across the capital. The main purpose of this ring road was to connect all the administrative regions of the city. However, it also cuts through the informal settlement and slums of the greater Cairo area.

Ultimately the Ring Road was unsuccessful in achieving its main purpose: to stop the urbanization of arable lands by creating a barrier around the Greater Cairo region. The existing Ring Road causes traffic conjunction and facilitates unappropriated commercial functions around these settlements, including having the knock-on effect of causing land prices to rise resulting in the construction of high rise residential towers, which act as walls along the ring road and isolate backward settlements from the city causing disruption to the lives of kiosk owners and small transportation companies who provide tuk tuk services.