Local authorities in Cairo have called on shopkeepers in downtown to alter their shop signs to match the city’s standards or remove them, as part of a plan to restore and preserve the heart of the capital, said the Cairo Governor’s official Spokesperson Ibrahim Awad. Awad clarified, in statements to Al-Shorouk, that downtown Cairo has more than 500 old properties that constitute artistic masterpieces. The restoration is being done in cooperation between the executive bodies of the Cairo Governorate, the company that owns the heritage properties in downtown Cairo, the Civilization Coordination Agency, and the heads of the neighborhoods of the Khedivial District, as well as some shopkeepers. Downtown Cairo was built in 1863 by Khedive Ismail Pasha, who sought to turn the city into the “Paris of the Middle East”. Additionally, the government has decided to transform a number of Cairo streets into pedestrian-only streets and to allocate other streets for pedestrian traffic in the evenings.

Source: Egypt Independent November 27, 2020 11:07 UTC