Thank You, Cairo Governor

I was surprised by all these reactions to my article last week, entitled "Your Bike Is Your Health", in which I talked about the importance of cycling as an important sport for the health of Egyptians, and it represents a treatment; especially for chronic diseases, and for preserving the environment. President Sisi encourages people to practise this sport and he participated in more than one marathon.

I was surprised by many calls and messages, all of them asking me to continue this very important campaign..." Especially the Cairo Bike project, whose first phase was inaugurated by the Prime Minister, and bike lanes were planned in the streets of downtown last year, but instead of generalizing it and making it the beginning of re-planning of the streets of Cairo and cities to allow safe passage for pedestrians and cyclists as well as cars, similar to the major international cities that eliminated congestion in their streets, universities, institutions and factories by respecting the bicycle as a mean of transportation, suddenly this projected disappeared and was halted at a time when we suffer from environmental pollution and climate change, and the high price of cars, gasoline and spare parts.

Dr. Doria Sharaf El-Din, the former Minister of Information and Chairman of the Senate Information Committee, phoned me, praising the article, and asked to continue the campaign, that should be covered by television programs, websites and social media since this project improves our health and changes our behavior in the street.

Major General Khaled Abdel- Aal Governor of Cairo, issued a statement in which he said, "A comprehensive evaluation of the project has been carried out, because it is not commensurate with the technical conditions that have been prepared with international expertise, and due to the lack of adherence to acceptable standards for system management and bicycle maintenance, The governorate has assigned another operator that has long experience in that project. In the coming days, Cairo Governorate is looking forward to completing the implementation of all the amendments, starting with the rehabilitation of the system and the provision of (500) bicycles and (45) stations to cover all parts of Cairo".

In fact, the reactions are evidence of the importance of the issue, the necessity of writing about it and the interaction of all parties with it. We are not satisfied with only opening projects with enthusiasm, then the enthusiasm disappears and projects are postponed.

Thank you Major General Khaled Abdel-Aal, for the quick response, I was expecting reactions from Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, Minister of Youth and Sports, and from Dr. Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment and NGOs interested in human health.

I hope that all parties will participate to resume working in this project to implement it in all governorates, in order to ensure the health of the citizen and prevent pollution.