The Third District, Hurghada, Egypt

Slum areas adjacent to middle or privileged class housings in Egypt have become one of the major signs of social and cultural dysfunction over the last decades. A preliminary survey conducted by the Red Sea Governorate in early 2006 showed that more than 10,000 families live in slum areas within the city of Hurghada alone. In this case, future layouts of slum areas must include social, sports and cultural services and activities such as schools to qualify youth, clubs, social and sports centers, mosques, schools, hospitals etc, in addition to public utilities such as roads, water, sanitation, phone lines, electricity, gas, etc.

This would give citizens hope in living a good life where they would assert their humanity and have a sense of belonging. It would also provide hope of finding suitable work opportunities in the Red Sea; which is the largest governorate in terms of area and the least in term of population, and where real job opportunities are available for qualified youth trained to work in the different fields of tourism development activities and services-related activities in general.

Upon discussions with Governorate entities, the area located between al-Hegaz Street and the middle Ring Road, separating the airport area from down town, was selected for the new planning of Hurghada city, and is to be called the “Third Neighborhood”.

Third neighborhood represents the core of the future layout of Hurghada city with an area of approximately 10 million m2. It is located to the east of the current down town area. The location is made even more important by its proximity to Sakala and Dahhar areas, characterized by tourist activities including hotels, restaurants, shops, etc.

The El Sayed foundation is working closely with the company overseeing the building of the Third District Project (Italgroup s.a.e) in researching the possibility of setting up facilities for the underprivileged sector of the community such as an orphanage, free admissions hospital, Public library, in addition to secondary children libraries. The implementation of this project is pending the official approval of the Egyptian Government.