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The Commercial District, Port Said 19 February 2013
Port Said: Deserted markets and angry people
Aly Gouda, seller
Since the abolition of the free zone
and the attack on the convoy of the former [President]
Port Said has been plagued by wrong decisions.
Those decisions have devastated Port Said over the past 12 years.
We have suffered under the former and current regimes.
Unemployment rose and the residents of Port Said
no longer got jobs at [natural] gas or petroleum companies.
The residents of Port Said were deprived of those jobs.
Port Said suffered a recession,
with the youth hanging out at cafés jobless.
Mohamed Abdel Moneim, member of the Revolutionary Socialists Movement
The residents of Port Said almost have the same problems
as all Egyptians, though theirs are a little worse.
We have a severe housing problem
due to the geographical location of the governorate.
There isn’t enough space to build on.
Young men get married in order to apply for apartments provided by the governorate
and then wait 5 or more years to get an apartment,
and sometimes they don’t end up getting one.
There are labor strikes, like the ones at the Factory for Electricity Plaits,
Persil factory, which satisfied some of the workers demands,
the Canal Ropes Company, and at subcontractors affiliated
to the Suez Canal Authority but whose workers
do not have the same package of benefits
as workers at the Suez Canal Authority.
Combined, these factors are causing tensions.
“O! Allah! Destroy Morsy and his aides for their cheating and lies!”
Mahmoud Fouad, secretary general of the Port Said Merchants Union
The real crisis in Port Said began in 2002
following the issuing of Law 5/2002
during the rule of the ousted President.
Hosni Mubarak allowed imports into all governorates
and abolished the free zone status of [Port Said].
Port Said became a governorate like any other in Egypt.
Youssef Azzam, member of the Port Said Chamber of Commerce board
The ousted President decided to abolish the free zone in Port Said over a period of five years.
He also allocated LE3 billion to its development.
That was the decision as it was sent to us.
Of course, there has been no development.
Port Said used to import goods worth LE220 million in 2001.
The total value of the imports declined
until it reached LE24 million in the last of the five years.
Security conditions have a considerable impact on the economy.
You cannot have a proper economy without security.
Capital is coward.
There is no security here.
Regrettably, over the past few years,
some people that we can call smugglers have been evading customs
or paying only nominal duties.
As a result the goods were sold at cheaper prices outside Port Said.
Talk about restoring the free zone is just election publicity that the people are fed up with.
They keep bringing up this issue when problems happen.
The people are now convinced they don't benefit from the free zone.
Those who benefit from it are only 15 figures known in the Commerce Chamber.
The people know that this is only an attempt to bribe them,
and they know it won’t solve their problems anyway.
The first decision [President Morsy] should have made
was to give those killed and injured in the [recent clashes] the same treatment
as the [25 January] revolution’s victims.
He should have appointed Port Said residents in government institutions.
There are more than 40,000 jobless young men in Port Said.
He can have 10,000 of them appointed in government institutions.
Then comes the decision to return the free zone.
The people are indeed waiting for this decision, though not at this point.
He should first absorb the people’s anger.
“O! Port Said, you are my country!”
“Oh, oh, oh, we want it [Port Said] to become a state!”