Update on the Corniche Development Project at Luxor
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The 10-month Corniche Development Project has been designed by Ain Shams University’s Faculty of Engineering and is being implemented by the army. It is budgeted at LE250 million, LE150 million provided by the Tourism Development Fund and the remaining LE100 million in the form of a European grant.
Due to start in January, the Corniche will be divided into three lanes, two reserved for emergency services and the third for horse drawn carriages. The Corniche will be widened in places up to 14 meters, and several luxurious 100-bed hotels are planned. Floating wooden sidewalks will be provided so pedestrians might feel they are walking on the deck of a boat.
The façades of buildings overlooking the Corniche will be made of sandstone and lit in a manner that makes them appear old. Both Luxor and Karnak temples will front directly on the river, as the ancient Egyptians intended, and be accessed directly from the Nile with docks to allow tourists to disembark. The plan is eventually to restrict transit between the monuments on both banks of the river to feluccas.
On the West Bank a dock is already under construction. When complete, it will be able to handle 10,000 tourists a day. Bus and car parks are also being built, alongside places for camels and horses to be tethered, and bicycles chained.
Luxor residents evicted for tourism
Residents living between Luxor and Karnak Temples–along the “Avenue of the Sphinxes” have recently been given three-day eviction notices as heavy machinery is quickly tearing down buildings six days a week.
Late October, the governor of Luxor General Samir Farag reported that “It is our philosophy now to evacuate the whole city here, between the two temples (Luxor and Karnak) to an area west of the railway line”
Residents say it is not clear how much they will receive for their homes; compensation varies from about LE40,000 to LE60,000, according to several interviews.
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