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Courtesy, ICLEI
Aerial view of Alexandria, Egypt.
ALEXANDRIA GOVERNORATE
EGYPT
Municipal Profile a key factor in prioritising the environment
within a development strategy. In Alexandria,
Alexandria has a population of 4 million, and
the sustainable development of the community is
a total area of nearly 2,300 square kilometres.
seen as an opportunity for economic growth and
The population density is 1,739 per square
social inclusion.
kilometre, and the Gross National Income per
capita is approx. US$1,570 (2005).
Urban Context
Key economic Port, textile, chemical, Alexandria is one of the major cities on the
areas fuel, primary metal, food, Mediterranean Sea, and plays an essential role
and tobacco industries
in Egyptian economy and cultural life as the
Urban manage- City Development country’s oldest and largest port. Most of
ment approach Strategy Egypt’s foreign trade passes through the port,
Environment entry Integrated in CDS which has 75 percent of the total capacity of
point Egypt’s Mediterranean ports. The city has a
coastline of 70 kilometres and lies between the
Mediterranean and Lake Marriout.
Why this Case Study Is Important Alexandria is a powerful industrial base,
The Alexandria case study shows how a CDS can home to over 4,500 industrial firms with an
be used to integrate environmental issues in city estimated workforce of 201,000. This represents
planning processes. It also shows how the leader- 17.3 percent of the total labour force of the city.
ship of an elected local government official can be Industrial output in Alexandria’s production
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represents 40 percent of Egypt’s total. Its most
important industries are iron and steel, petro- Alexandria CDS Vision, 2005–2017
leum, cement, chemicals, petrochemicals, spinning Alexandria will take advantage of its competi-
and weaving. tive endowments, better manage local assets,
remove constraints to private sector-led growth,
and ensure the socioeconomic integration of
Urban Management Approach the poor in the development processes.
Alexandria is focusing on integrated strategies for
certain sectors and environmental issues using
CDS approach promoted by the Cities Alliance.
The physical priority was to develop a par-
ticipatory urban upgrading strategy for the
Case Study squatter areas and a land use plan for the Lake
Under the leadership of its Governor, Alexandria Marriout area, within a sustainable urban devel-
embarked on a City Development Strategy in opment framework. The strategy was to include
2004. During the 2004–2006 phase, the Gov- definable measures to improve the living condi-
ernorate prepared a Comprehensive Strategic tions of residents and prevent further environ-
Development Plan for the city within the mental deterioration of the Lake area. It was also
framework of the Alexandria CDS, developed to help to establish a sound regulatory framework
using methodology tested by the World Bank, for the Governorate to manage the Lake and pur-
based on best practices developed by Cities sue participatory approaches to urban upgrading
Alliance, Cities of Chance and other donors. The and security of tenure.
first step of the CDS process, ‘organising the The Partnership Forum established three CDS
effort’, aimed to ensure the most appropriate insti- Pillars:
tutional set up for a participatory process which Ⅲ Formulate a local economy development
would allow partners from the public, business strategy;
and non-governmental sectors to work together. Ⅲ Devise a comprehensive strategic development
This ‘Partnership Forum’ identified economic and plan for Lake Marriout and the surrounding
physical priorities for the city’s development. area;
The economic priority was to develop a Ⅲ Develop a comprehensive urban upgrading
medium to long-term economic development strategy for squatter settlements.
strategy, which would investigate and build on
the city’s competitiveness. The aim was to diver- Local and international consultants prepared
sify and augment the economic base of the city, five reports8, which were used, together with
enhance productivity and establish an enabling
8“Alexandria Local Economy and Competitiveness Assessment”,
business environment. Specific strategies and “A Comprehensive Strategic Development Plan for Lake Mar-
initiatives were to be designed to create eco- riout Zone”, “A Strategic Development Plan for Land Sur-
rounding Lake and Wadi Marriout”, “A Squatter Settlements
nomic development opportunities, especially in and Urban Upgrading Strategy”, “Alexandria Tourism Devel-
low-income areas and squatter settlements. opment Strategy”.
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stakeholder consultations, to develop a shared
long-term vision and key local economic devel-
opment programmes for the city.
One of the major results of the CDS work
was the development of the Alexandria Gov-
ernorate Pole Project, which focused on sustain-
able economic growth and equity. Considerable
attention was given to the environment in
two areas: a) sustainable use of natural re-
sources, and, b) environmental improvement
and protection.
Three project development objectives were
identified:
Ⅲ Supporting Alexandria’s economic development
© Ahmed Eiweida/World Bank
and utilisation of local assets through invest-
ments in environmental regeneration and land
use development;
Ⅲ Supporting private sector development
through removing infrastructural and admin-
istrative constraints; and,
An Alexandria squatter settlement.
Ⅲ Improving access of residents in squatter set-
tlements to infrastructure, basic services and
income-generating opportunities. Several new projects have emerged as a result of
the implementation of CDS:
Several component areas were identified to achieve
Ⅲ Integrated coastal zone management—the
these objectives:
policy aims to ensure that the protection of the
coastal zone resources remains an integral part
Ⅲ Priority infrastructure to support local eco-
of the development priorities. It also aims at
nomic development—financing work and
the coordination of the sometimes conflicting
related services aimed at enhancing the waste- interests and uses of the coastal zone;
water treatment system surrounding Lake Ⅲ Environmental Pollution Abatement Proj-
Marriout’s main basin; ect (EPAP) Phase II—the second phase of
Ⅲ Upgrading of squatter settlements to improve EPAP aims to demonstrate that market-based
living conditions of residents in six settlements financial/technical approaches are effective in
by providing basic infrastructure, community reducing industrial pollution in selected hot
facilities and services, and increasing access to spots areas in and around the Alexandria and
micro-credit and business support. Greater Cairo areas;
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Ⅲ Upgrading of three slum areas—the objective Ⅲ Interest from other donors in contributing to
is to improve the standard of living for the the strategic development plan increased;
inhabitants of El-Amrawy, El-Hadra and Naga Ⅲ The central government was supportive.
El-Arab. The following operations began in
April 2006, and some have already been
accomplished.
Environment Entry Point
The CDS process proved to be an effective vehi-
A number of unexpected opportunities arose cle for integrating environmental considerations
from the CDS process. into Alexandria’s development plan. Early on in
the process, the CDS team benefitted from the
Ⅲ A large number of enthusiastic stakeholders Governor’s strong support to improving local
wanted to take part in the strategic planning environmental quality. In addition, the multi-
process; stakeholder approach to the Alexandria CDS
Ⅲ A democratic and cooperative atmosphere meant that citizens became aware of the impor-
dominated the workshop dialogues and dis- tance of sustainable development and the need to
cussions; manage natural resources wisely.
Ⅲ There were beneficial outputs from the Cost-benefit analysis relating to the environ-
exchange of ideas and knowledge between ment for any development project was used dur-
local and international consultants; ing the CDS process. Environmental protection
Highlights of Upgrading in Three Slum Areas in Alexandria, Egypt
Naga El Arab El Amrawy Hadra El Gedida
Health Centre Tree planting Land for health centre (made available)
Police Station Health centre (done) Land for youth & sports (made available)
Primary school Youth centre Land for two schools (made available)
Youth & sports activities Sanitary drainage Sanitary drainage (done)
Fund for roads and public Paving roads Water network
lighting (made available)
Wall off railway line (done) Pedestrian bridge Road paving
Tree planting (done) Covering canals Street lighting
Community centre Market & workshops Street widening and resettlement
Bus stops
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became a top priority for both citizens and the
local government, and programmes for pollution
abatement became mainstream. Environmental
concerns were a common feature in the stake-
holder workshops, and preventing the further
degradation of Lake Marriout was highlighted
© Ahmed Eiweida/World Bank
as a priority.
The Alexandria Governorate Pole Project
focused on sustainable economic growth and
equity. Within this, considerable attention was
given to the environment, focusing on the sus-
tainable use of natural resources, and on envi- Families of Lake Marriout fishermen.
ronmental improvement and protection.
senior government officials, the Alexandria Busi-
Results
nessmen’s Association, the University of Alexan-
Although it was not the primary driver for the dria, and major civil society organisations of the
Comprehensive Strategic Development Plan, the Governorate, is still intact and overseeing the
plan succeeded in incorporating the environ- implementation of the plan.
mental dimension in all components, pro- Through the CDS process, the municipality
grammes, projects and activities. Social and of Alexandria recognised the importance of coor-
economic achievements are clearly visible in the dination, stakeholder participation, and of hav-
upgrading of slum areas. Stakeholder councils ing a realistic approach towards implementation
have been formed for each slum community, and as part of the planning process.
they take part in managing the upgrading
process. It is clear that when residents fully par- Replicability
ticipate in the process which touches upon their
livelihoods, sustainability is possible. The Alexandria experience shows that City Devel-
opment Strategy offers an excellent opportunity
for citizens and urban managers to integrate
Lessons Learned environmental issues into an overall city devel-
Support and leadership from the Governorate were opment framework. However, each city has its
essential elements. The cooperation of both the own unique needs, and it is necessary to under-
Governor and Secretary-General has been a key stand the local community culture in order to tai-
factor in achieving a highly significant improve- lor the CDS process successfully. The Alexandria
ment in the quality of life for Alexandrians. case highlights the importance of having a local
The solid, multi-stakeholder CDS team played champion for the process who is interested in
an important role. The team, which included environmental issues. It is also important to have
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a CDS team with developed communication Key Contacts
skills to ensure that stakeholders, regardless of Ahmed Eiweida
their background or affiliations, participate ac- Sr. Urban Management Specialist
tively in the process. Environmental issues are The World Bank
Room H9-133, Mailstop: H9-900
clearly important to urban stakeholders, who are
Tel.: (1-202) 458 9046
likely to support the integration of environmen- Fax: (1-202) 522 2151
tal issues within the CDS process in other cities. Email: aeiweida@worldbank.org
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