Roads Authority Denies the Qift–El Quseir Road Is in Poor Condition, Says Upgrade Is Running to Schedule

Egypt's General Authority for Roads and Bridges has denied that the Qift–El Quseir road is in poor condition, saying upgrade work on the desert route between the Nile Valley and the Red Sea coast is continuing according to a fixed timetable. The statement was reported on 5 September by Al-Watan, Masrawy, Al-Shorouk, Mubtada, Mubasher, Bankier, Youlyou and Egypt's National Media Authority.

According to those reports, the authority was responding to claims circulating about the condition of the road. Masrawy published a set of 15 photographs of the route alongside the authority's account of the works.

What the authority said, as reported:

• The road is not in the poor state described in the circulating reports.
• Works to raise the route's efficiency are still under way.
• Those works are proceeding according to a set time schedule.

The Qift–El Quseir road crosses the Eastern Desert from Qift, in Qena governorate, to El Quseir on the Red Sea, and is one of the main links between Upper Egypt and the southern stretch of this coast. It carries residents travelling between the Nile Valley and the coastal towns as well as freight and tour traffic. The fact that the authority issued a public denial at all indicates the complaints had circulated widely enough to require an official response.

The reports do not give a completion date for the current phase of work, a cost, the contractor carrying it out, or which sections of the route are affected. Nor do they set out in detail what the original complaints alleged.

For residents of El Quseir and Marsa Alam, and for anyone driving overland between the coast and Qena or Luxor, the practical message in the authority's own account is that the road remains an active works site. Drivers should expect construction zones along the route until the authority announces the upgrade is finished.