The
company will provide buses and golf carts for transport inside the plateau,
will train horse and camel drivers and give them a uniform, and will create
WiFi services, signs, maps and other facilities. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.
The
Supreme Council of Antiquities has signed a contract with Orascom Investment to
allow the latter to provide and operate the facilities at the Giza Plateau,
under the supervision of the council.
The
signing of contract came after almost a year of negotiations, and after the
approval of the cabinet, and aims to upgrade the services available to visitors
to the pyramids.
Mustafa
Waziri, the general-secretary of the council, told Ahram Online that the
facilities and services include a promotional campaign for the site, and
operating the parking area located outside the archaeological site just in
front of entrance on the Fayoum Road.
Vehicles
will be prohibited from entering the site, and the company will instead provide
20 golf carts and 30 buses for visitors, operated with renewable energy, to
circulate inside the site. It will also run the services at the site visitor
centre, which consists of a collection of shops, cafeterias and a cinema.
“The films on display at this
cinema will be revised and have the approval of the Supreme Council of
Antiquities before they are shown,” Waziri said. He
added that Orascom will also install 20 mobile toilets and a medical centre for
first aid facilities in different areas in the plateau which would be selected
and approved by the council.
It
will also provide new services such as mobile application for the site, free
Wi-Fi services, signage, visitor maps, and kiosks for photographs and paintings
of visitors. A
cleaning company will be provided, as well as a security one to safeguard the
services area.
“The Tourism and Antiquities
Police and the Supreme Council of Antiquities guards are the only ones to
secure the general site, the visitors and the archaeological site,” said
Waziri, adding that the security provided by the company is only to safeguard
the places where services are provided.
He
explained that according to the signed contract the company will train
craftsmen, camel and horse owners, peddlers, and photographers in order to
upgrade their skills to deal with tourists and visitors, and will buy them new
horse carts to replace the out-dated ones. A
special place will be allocated for them, as well as a uniform.
Waziri
said that it is the first time such services to visitors are provided through a
specialised Egyptian company in order to facilitate a visiting route inside the
plateau within a complete system that respects the archaeological environment
and antiquities laws and regulations.
He
underlined that the contract allots half the revenue from the services provided
to the council. “If the company does not succeed
to make any benefits, it has to pay an agreed minimum amount to the Supreme
Council of Antiquities.
“The Supreme Council of
Antiquities has the authority to select and hire any authority to review the
financial account of the company and supervise the execution of all articles in
the contracts, in order to guarantee the Supreme Council of Antiquities’
rights,” Waziri said, adding that the council also has the right to end the
contract at any time should the company breach any of its obligations
stipulated in the contract.
He added
that the council is the only body that received the revenues from the tickets
and bus services inside the plateau which will be part of the ticket price. The
Supreme Council of Antiquities is the authority with full responsibility for
the archaeological site.
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