A recent announcement by the Cairo Governorate to construct new marketplaces to accommodate

the city’s unlicensed street vendors was met with shock and concern by businessmen and store

owners. The new plan is estimated to accommodate only 10% of the city’s unlicensed street vendors,

and would take nearly one year to implement.

Businesses throughout Cairo first demanded that the Governorate cooperate with other government

institutions to address prolonged security lapses and use all means at their disposal to put an end to

the perceived crisis of unlicensed street vendors. They claimed that the surge in these unlicensed

traders seen since the 2011 revolution threatened the viability of legitimate businesses.

Businessmen in the city pledged their support for the Governorate’s plan on the condition of

improvements in the security situation, particularly in Downtown districts such as Talaat Harb,

Al-Tawfikia, Al-Azbakiya and Ramses. There were also calls for vendors traveling from other regions,

particularly in Upper Egypt, be forced to return to their home provinces.

Muhammad Gharib, Deputy President of the Chamber, said that vendors will not willingly leave

their current locations unless provided with viable alternatives from where they can continue to trade.

He also said that any areas created by officials that do not address the needs of vendors will be quickly

abandoned.

Salih Al-Abd, a member of the Board of Directors for the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, welcomed

the financial contributions of local businessmen to help establish licensed market areas, ensuring

that unlicensed vendors would not be allowed to return to their previous locations. He further

acknowledged that many vendors rent their locations from other store or property owners, sometimes at

a rate of EGP 300,000 per year.

Atif Al-Ashmuni, Secretary to the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, said that statistics produced by

the Governorate about the number of street vendors operating throughout the city, estimated at 20,000,

were inaccurate. He said that in reality the numbers were closer to 200,000. Al-Ashmuni discussed

the need to exploit land resources that are currently under-utilised, citing Taha Qandil Street in

Al-Matariyyah neighbourhood where a market was recently constructed using EGP 100m in funding

from the Ministry of Endowments. All storefronts in this new marketplace are state owned he added.