Policy Initiatives:

National Level

Timeline and Overview

In early 1994 the Egyptian Assembly passed Law 4/1994 with which Egypt seemed to muster a new environmental resolve. Law 4/1994 established new standards for containing pollution and gave industries three years to meet compliance. Many did not achieve this target. “Measuring this law’s effectiveness in reducing industrial emissions is difficult, but efforts at turning this situation around continue.” (1) One important aspect of 4/1994 is that it created a climate of accountability.

 

 Another important event was the launching, in 1995, of the Cairo Air Improvement Project (CAIP).  Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), it directly addressed air pollution in Egypt. With a budget of $60 million over a five-year period, the CAIP project was meant to enable the government to follow up on its pollution-control effort (2). It spawned several initiatives, as follows:

 

 

Policy at the National Level

 

 

 Law of 4/94

Issued on February 3, 1994 this pivotal law focused enforcement authority within the newly-established Egyptian Environmental Affair Agency (EEAA) and introduced comprehensive environmental legislation, including new emissions control standards and enforcement mechanisms. One key aspect of this law is that it set the standard for acceptable concentrations of lead and other pollutants.

 

Program to promote the use of Compressed Natural Gas fuel in motor  vehicles.

In association with the Cairo Transit Authority and the Greater Cairo Bus Company CAIP assisted in the switch of their bus fleets to gas, a good alternative for Egypt which has extensive reserves of natural gas.

 

 Lead Smelters Emission Reduction and Phase-out

Since leaded gasoline was phased out in Cairo in 1997, smelters, located in and out of city limits, had since become the biggest lead pollutants. This program is assisting the lead smelters that account for so much toxic smog in controlling their emissions. All the facilities that CAIP is dealing with are private, although there is at least one state-owned smelter in the Shubra neighborhood of Cairo. Closing down smelters is not on the government’s agenda, for economic reasons. Rather they are advised on new smelter design, installing new equipment and, in some cases, assisting them in relocating.

 

 VET (Vehicle Emission Testing, Tune-Up and Certification).

This program aimed at reducing harmful vehicle emissions from the 1,200,000 vehicles on Cairo's roads, both through opening more inspection stations and with an On-road Testing program (ORT) (3).

 

 Air quality-monitoring system

In 1998 a monitoring system was put in place under the EEAA’s helm to measure concentrations of sulfur and nitrogen dioxides, carbon monoxides, ozone and particulate matter. Thirty-six monitoring stations in all were put in place from the Helwan section of Cairo in the south, to Shubra El Kheima in the north to analyze the air quality and report back to the CAIP center in Maadi. Over the same period of time, environment agencies plan to plant one million trees in and around Cairo—an attempt at creating a carbon sink? No specific information was found to support or refute this.

 

 

Penalties Mechanisms

After the expiration of a grace period in 1998, the government began to levy financial and operational fines against companies not in compliance with the environmental law described herein.