Hotels Told to Prove Where Their Rubbish Goes, as Work Is Ordered on the Hurghada Airport Road

Hotels and tourism businesses in the Red Sea Governorate are to be checked on whether they are handing their waste to licensed contractors, under decisions taken at a meeting between Local Development and Environment Minister Dr Manal Awad and Red Sea Governor Dr Walid Abdel Azim El-Barqi, according to Akhbar El-Youm.

A joint committee has been formed between the governorate and the regional branch of the Environmental Affairs Agency to examine how far hotel and tourism establishments comply. Under the requirements set out at the meeting, each establishment must:

• contract a company licensed by the Waste Management Regulatory Authority to collect and transport its waste
• make sure that waste reaches the treatment and safe-disposal site approved by the governorate
• keep records of the quantities handed over, and of any other data the inspection committees ask for

Awad also pressed for the tendering and contracting of private-sector companies to run integrated waste management across the governorate's cities and districts to be completed before the end of September, and told the governorate to tighten oversight and take legal action over informal waste sorting, particularly in Hurghada. This site reported on 24 September that a second cancelled tender had left rubbish at Safaga's port and school gates.

Central Hurghada and the airport road

The meeting also covered a plan to redevelop central Hurghada as what the ministry describes as an integrated tourism and cultural experience rather than simply a beach destination. El-Barqi presented proposals for Sakala Square, Mina Mosque Square and El Nasr Street, along with tree planting on main roads, district entrances and city approaches. Awad directed that building facades on main streets be unified and that street and square signage be standardised.

She also ordered an immediate start on developing the road leading to Hurghada Airport, with the cost estimates to be finalised.

The governorate will take promotional videos of Hurghada's tourist areas to World Travel Market in London in November, a fair El-Barqi said draws around 4,000 exhibitors. Awad asked for material highlighting the governorate's nature reserves and its ecotourism product.

The report gives no cost, contractor or completion date for the airport road or the square redesigns, and no date for the hotel waste inspections to begin.