The "bridge" of the bridge Long live Egypt .. Tax raises the Egyptian street

Hassan El Masry - Cairo

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi opened a bridge over Egypt's Nile River, but the new bridge, which Egypt has entered through the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest bridge, complains about the absence of passengers and the anger of Egyptians.

The National Roads Company, affiliated to the Egyptian Ministry of Defense, has decided to impose a "carta" for the passage of the bridge, part of the Rawd al-Faraj axis linking Al-Khalafawi Square to Shubra and extending to the opposite side of the Nile on Al-Warraq Island. And illogical.

The company set the transit fees of the bridge at 20 pounds for the private car, 10 pounds for the minibus, 20 pounds for the bus, 30 pounds for the heavy transport (trailer / trilla), 25 pounds for the individual transport, 15 pounds for the minibus, 10 pounds for quarter transport vehicles, and 5 pounds for motorcycles.

Despite the public anger and the low number of passing cars on the bridge, there was no comment from the government, at a time when the National Company confirmed that citizens can make a reduced contribution to cross the bridge of 200 pounds for the vehicle "owners."

It is interesting that the toll of the bridge transit fees will be transferred to the company's own fund away from the state treasury, although the budget will bear the cost of constructing it, similar to all the new roads and bridges in the era of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, which are financed by taxpayers' money. To special accounts of the military leadership.

The island visited the bridge a few days after it opened, and noticed a severe weakness in traffic, but it became a destination for some families and families who were standing in front of the glass walkway on the top of the Nile River. During the tour we met with more than one citizen to talk about this issue.

Bridge of the rich
Abdul Rahman taxi driver confirmed that he will not bear the payment of 25 pounds, "the card", and it will be the customer between the payment of the card or lack of traffic from the bridge.

He added in an interview for Al Jazeera Net that the price of the card exaggerated and alienated from the use of the bridge, which is supposed to come to serve all citizens and not only the rich class.

Muamen said it took about an hour and maybe more to get from Shubra to Sheikh Zayed, where he used to go on a regular basis, but the new bridge helped to reduce the distance significantly, where it cuts in a quarter of an hour only.

He added that the only problem lies in the high price of the cost of traffic through the bridge, which amounts to 20 pounds, and this is a very large amount.

Khaled Musallam, a driver of a quarter of a car, said that he would refrain from using the bridge if the traffic fees did not change. He is a driver of a small car that is required to pay 10 pounds in a round trip. Reduce it.