Sisi raises a new controversy: useless feasibility studies

Cairo-Al Jazeera Net

A new controversy raised by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi relates this time to his acknowledgment of the failure of the feasibility studies of the projects that were carried out during his tenure, and that if these studies were a decisive factor, about three quarters of these projects were completed.

Speaking on Sunday at the 2018 Africa Forum held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Sisi said: "In my estimation in Egypt, if I took the feasibility studies and made them the decisive factor in resolving the issues, we would achieve only 20-25% of what we achieved."

But the Egyptian president denied that his intention was to ignore the scientific path, saying that it was aimed at operating the citizens and achieving stability by giving hope to infrastructure projects.

The Suez Canal
Since his inauguration in 2014, Sisi has announced major projects from time to time, which experts believe are futile. The most important of these was the digging of a new Suez Canal canal, which experts warned of as global trade declined and was not needed. Where it cost billions without providing any benefit.

Suez Canal revenues remained unchanged, while the former central bank governor admitted some negative effects of the Al-Tafira project, including the depletion of foreign exchange reserves.

Sisi also announced the project of planting 1.5 million feddans, despite the warnings of experts of agriculture and water from the lack of water for agriculture, especially with the suffering of Egypt from water poverty, as well as the future risks to fill the Ethiopian Renaissance, which threatens Egypt's share of the Nile water, Former Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Nasruddin Allam.

In March 2015, Sisi signed the Nahdha Dam Agreement with Ethiopia and Sudan, which allowed Addis Ababa to seek loans from international banks to complete the construction of the dam, which was dependent on giving Egypt legal legitimacy for the construction of the dam.

The irony of activists
Sisi's comments on feasibility studies ridiculed social media activists. "A president is useless, it is natural to ignore feasibility studies," Mohamed Ajlan said.

And the number of activist Ahmed Hossam risks to Egypt because of the failure of the implementation of projects without feasibility studies, "Without feasibility studies and Antarctic in the implementation of conscious projects, the country has gone bankrupt and religion has increased and we have to float, We will eat and drink, and you will be crushed. "

An account called "Nunian" was an example of the Suez canal project, which he considered to be one of the causes of the collapse of the pound, stressing that it is the poor who suffer from the implementation of projects without feasibility studies.

"The digging of the Suez Canal in three years instead of one year would have saved a lot of hard currency to Egypt because the leasing of the dredgers and the provision of fuel was done in hard currency," said the account.

"It is easy for those who live in the palace to declare useless feasibility studies if the negatives will be felt by the basically destitute class," Nunyan said.

"He said the factory cost a lot and work a little, said I invest in the railway or put a bank deposit, so we are poor strong, poor thought."

Other angle
On the other hand, Shaima Arafat considered the remarks of the Egyptian president from another angle that is more serious. "The story is not just a mockery, but I understood that foreign feasibility studies rejected what was coming.

The account "Abu Omar" considered that the statements of the Sisi studied the lessons of ignorance, saying, "Do not ask him about the achievements he himself does not know .. But always make sure that the flag in the head is not in the booklet .. Da advantage of military rule does not waste time in feasibility studies. A lesson of active ignorance.

Karim Mahrous, on his Facebook page, ridiculed the idea that feasibility studies were hampering achievements. He sarcastically suggested abolishing the faculties of politics and economics and turning them into what he called the Faculty of Medical Philosophy, in another derision of an old statement by Sisi describing himself as a "philosopher's doctor."