Hurghada Bans Digging in Newly Paved Streets for Three Years
The governor has set a rule of no paving before the utilities are finished, and barred any digging in freshly surfaced Hurghada streets for three years from the day the work is completed.
24 September 2026
Red Sea Governor Walid Abdel Azim El-Barqi has barred any digging in Hurghada streets for three years from the date their resurfacing is finished, a rule meant to stop newly paved roads being cut open again weeks later, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm and Sada El-Balad.
The ban accompanies a start on paving a number of streets and main arteries in the city under this financial year's investment plan. Priority, the governor said, should go to the areas that need it most and carry the heaviest traffic, rather than being set at random.
His stated rule is that there is to be no paving before utility work is complete. Drinking water, sanitation, electricity and telecoms companies have been told to survey whatever connections and digging they need in the streets on the paving list and carry them out before the paving equipment arrives. Any utility need arising during the three-year period must be coordinated in advance.
Al-Masry Al-Youm framed the decision as an answer to years of waste, in which bodies dug up recently surfaced roads to run connections, damaging the pavement layers and throwing away part of what the state had spent on them.
The governor also ordered the work split among more than one specialised contractor so that several arteries can be done in parallel, shortening the time the city spends with its roads open, and required full compliance with technical specifications and periodic inspection of every stage.
The meeting at governorate headquarters included the secretary-general, the heads of the North and South Hurghada districts, representatives of the traffic department, and the directors of planning, urban planning and projects, along with the head of the utility networks centre.
The reports do not name which streets are on the list, what the work will cost, or which contractors will do it.
This site reported on 6 September that a damaged stretch of the Al-Ahyaa road north of Hurghada had been repaired. The new rule is about what happens after such work is done - and whether the repair lasts.