Local authorities’ role to conserve the Egyptian heritage emerges from the Local Administration System Act which stipulates its role in preserving the state's culture. An example is the prime minister’s decision, number 1353 issued in 1998, to form a committee to supervise the project of
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revitalising Historic Cairo, including the local authorities and represented by the city governor, again demonstrating the centralised management system of decision making. The policy identified the members of the committee and the tasks required from each. However, the committee led by the Governor of Cairo only met once in three years before it was shut down (Stewart, 2003; Fouad, 2006).
The Role of Local Authorities in Heritage Conservation
The international conventions and treaties have referred to the role of the local authorities in the heritage conservation. For instance, Article ‘E’ of the Declaration of Amsterdam concerning the European architectural heritage (ICOMOS, 1975), mentioned:
“Local authorities, with whom most of the important planning decisions rest, have a special responsibility for the protection of the architectural heritage and should assist one another by the exchange of ideas and information.”
In addition, Article ‘H’ of the declaration referred that,
“To help meet the cost of restoration, adaptation and maintenance of buildings and areas of architectural or historic interest, adequate financial assistance should be made available to local authorities”
However, there is no clear policy in which determines local authorities’ role within the Egyptian local authorities’ administration act. However, the local authorities conserve those areas according to the Preservation Act of Egyptian Antiquities, and each local authority is responsible for its jurisdiction area focusing on avoiding breaching of monuments and the management of quarter without economic regeneration and structuring.
According to the interview with the local authority chief (2009), the local authority is the body which conservation inspectors report to when a breach is detected on a historic building. Meanwhile, the local authority is the body which the Supreme Council of Antiquities resorts to in order to take the following actions:
- Setting limits to heights of buildings that are neighbouring the monument. The Supreme Council of Antiquities sets the surrounding setbacks and refers it to the local authorities for implementation54.
- Halting any construction works in buildings neighbouring the monuments, in case these works would pose a threat to the surrounding built heritage.
- Adapting the environment surrounding the monument throughout the restoration process, by preventing trucks from passing through the area, or by changing traffic routes around the monument until the restoration work is completed.
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According to Policy no. 250/1990 issued by the President, the heights of the buildings surrounding the antiquities have been limited. Consequently the Supreme Council of Antiquities resorts to the authority of the local authorities to limit the heights of the buildings located in the area surrounding the monument, and forcing the neighbour of the antiquity to do the same.
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However, after the conservation work has finished everyday trespassing and deterioration returns and continues within this fragile area due to the lack of local organisation for monitoring. Therefore, most of the local authorities’ responsibility is to assist the preservation efforts within the area and avoid any breaching which could occur toward the monument. On the contrary there are no beatification efforts or street management because of the lack of funds, lack of street development plans, and the inadequacy of trained urban designers in local authorities.
The Role of Policy 106 in Heritage Conservation
The international conventions referred to the possibility of modern architectural annexing to historic areas, which should be studied thoroughly without harming the neighbouring built heritage. For example; Article (7) of the European Charter of the Architectural Heritage (ICOMOS, 1975), mentioned;
“...introduction of modern architecture into areas containing old buildings provided that the existing context, proportions, forms, sizes and scale are fully respected and traditional materials are used.”
Also, Article (7) of Lahore Convention in Pakistan (UNSECO, 1980);
“the preservation of a certain antiquity requires preserving a worthy environment, the original environment of the antiquity should be maintained, no construction or demolition or modification would change the relationship between mass and colour should be carried out, when considering the possibility of constructing new buildings, the aspects related to material, characteristics, the outlook and measurements should be observed.”
However, the Articles of the Building Construction Code policy No. 106 have not mentioned explicitly the mechanism of heritage conservation, except in terms of granting the local authorities the ability to reject issuing building permissions in some historic quarters. Article (7) of the policy says that the administrative body - referring to the local authorities’ building permission planners - has the right to reject building applications in case the proposals are not adequate for building codes generally. However, it did not mention any specified requirements related to historic quarters – such as architectural style, material used, colour suggesting, etc., except in 1999, when policy No. 457 was established, to focus on such aesthetical elements. In fact, this policy came very late, at least 15 years after the UNESCO’s declaration, and obviously focusing on physical conservation rather than sustainable revitalisation of quarters.
On the other hand, the international conventions regarding heritage conservation stipulated the necessity of imposing restrictions on the architectural character of construction in the historic quarter’s neighbourhood. The Egyptian Building Construction Code has not mentioned these restrictions. Policy No. 106 has mentioned some monumental areas, and has imposed limits on easement, such as proposing that no construction is allowed around the monument within at least 50 metres. In fact, this gave no consideration whatsoever to the intact urban fabric. In addition, it neglected a lot of important monumental areas, and Historic Cairo is an obvious example which suffered from significant negligence in development and deteriorated due to the feeble protective policies.
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