Thursday, Mar 06, 2014
Cairo: Cairo Tower, a decades-old landmark of the Egyptian capital has been indefinitely closed, dealing a fresh blow to the country’s ailing tourism industry.
The Nile-side structure, shaped like a lotus, which is a potent symbol of ancient Egypt, has been closed since late January after a Lebanese businessman’s contract to use the 187-metre-long attraction expired amid economic woes.
The shutdown is the first since the tower was inaugurated in the early 1960s by the then Egyptian president Jamal Abdul Nasser.
“The tower was closed on January 30 after the Lebanese investor’s contract with the Egyptian management ended,” said Amr Sa’ad, the head of the site’s workers’ union. “Workers are worried that they will be laid off despite the management’s assurances that none of the 120 employees will lose his job,” he told Gulf News. “This place is a historic symbol of Egypt’s pride and it is unfair to close it.”
Following the monument’s closure, its employees staged an antigovernment protest, demanding Egypt’s powerful Defence Minister Abdul Fatah Al Sissi to intervene and order the re-operation of the site.
Al Sissi led the ouster of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi in July last year and is widely expected to be the lead contender in Egypt’s presidential polls due this spring.
Cairo Tower officials say that its closure is temporary and that negotiations are under way with a new investor to reopen it after refurbishments.
“A new 10-year contract will soon be reached with an Egyptian company to reoperate the tower,” said Major-General Ezzat Al Ayatui, the site’s manager. “The new operator will allocate E£5 million (Dh2.6 million) to renovate the place and restore [it to] its glory days,” he told the private CBC TV station. “Soon the tower will appear again on the world tourism map.”
Egyptian historians say that the tower’s construction was financed by $6 million (Dh22 million) offered by the US as a personal gift to Nasser, a champion of Arab nationalism, purportedly to induce him to stop support for Algerians’ struggle against French occupation.
Nasser, known for his anti-Western rhetoric, decided to embarrass Washington for allegedly attempting to bribe him and ordered the money be used in building the tower. It was one of Nasser’s favourite places.
Designed by Egyptian architect Naoum Shebib, the structure remained Africa’s tallest structure until 1971 when it was surpassed by the Hillbrow Tower in South Africa, according to the free Encyclopedia Wikipedia.
Since its 1961 opening, the tower has been a major attraction for local and foreign sightseers. Composed of 16 floors, the structure has at its very top an open-air panorama that offers visitors a breathtaking view of the Egyptian capital.
With telescopes installed on the circular panorama, visitors can see other Cairo landmarks, mainly the TV building, Citadel, the Pyramids, the National Museum, the Abdeen presidential palace and Al Azhar Mosque in medieval Cairo. The place is also famous for its 14th floor revolving restaurant, where visitors can enjoy the sight of the bustling city and the flowing Nile while enjoying their food. One rotation takes around 70 minutes. The site also has other restaurants and a cafeteria on other floors.
After major renovations completed in 2008, the tower became more attractive with a lighting system emitting various shades of colours at night. Its capacity was also expanded to accommodate simultaneously 700 sightseers instead of 120.
Egypt’s tourism has been hard hit by political turmoil and a security breakdown that have gripped the country since the 2011 ouster of long-time president Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising.
By Ramadan Al Sherbini Correspondent
Gulf News 2014. All rights reserved.