Too close to home? Egyptians ridicule new 'anti-personal space' bridge

The bridge in the Al-Omraniya area of Giza’s governate appeared to be built directly in parallel to a string of residential buildings, leaving no space between the windows of the tower blocks and the new structure.

The bridge appears to be a clear safety hazard for both residents of the building and drivers, constructed so close the tower blocks that residents will be able to walk from their balconies onto the road.

Egypt’s Major General Mahmoud Nassar, head of the Central Agency for Reconstruction, said the buildings themselves were violating the allocated space for the new bridge, which is part of the Canal Zomor Road Links project - or King Salman Road Links, as it is also known.

The Egyptian official assured all residents with complaints would receive compensation for leaving their homes, though those that opted to stay were ineligible for payments.

Images of the bridge, which is 12km long and links the governates’ main areas, triggered ridicule and anger on social media. Many slammed authorities for their incompetence when the bridge was built, while others joked over the matter.

One resident complained of the lack of sunlight and fresh air due to the erect structure, according to a Arabi21 report.

Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, which also has 9.4 million expatriates, adds 1.6 million people every year to its population.

In a 2017 report, Abu Bakr El-Gendy, the head of Egypt's state statistics bureau which carried out the census, described the rate of population growth in the country as a "catastrophe".

According to the May 2017 report by the United Nations Population Fund, Egypt's population will reach 119 million in 2030.

With 95 percent of Egypt's land uninhabitable desert, the population is concentrated around the narrow Nile Valley and Nile Delta, with smaller numbers along the Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts.

In Cairo, a megalopolis of nearly 20 million inhabitants, the population density is around 50,000 inhabitants per square kilometre - nearly ten times that of London.

Plans for "New Cairo" were first announced in March 2015 and was touted as a solution to overcrowding, pollution and rising house prices in the capital.

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