Egypt wants antiquated taxis off its roads

By Will Rasmussen

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Egyptian government wants Fawzi Zawar, 49, to give up his taxi.

But Zawar, with a white moustache and white hair, is not about to let go of his 27-year-old South Korean Hyundai Pony.

Zawar earns 600 Egyptian pounds ($112) a month rattling through Cairo's streets in his vinyl-seat Pony, with its peeling white and black paint and no door handles, window knobs, or sun visors. That's more than he makes in his civil service day job.

Hyundai stopped producing the Pony some 20 years ago and now keeps one in a museum in Seoul. But Zawar's Pony is still running strong, battling the chaos on Cairo's roads and hauling tourists to the Pyramids on a good day.

"It only breaks down twice a week," Zawar says proudly. "I won't change it unless they force me."

Under a law passed earlier this year, the authorities will not renew the licences of any taxis older than 20 years, which may be the majority on the clogged, polluted streets of Cairo.

The fleet of Russian-made Lada 1300s, Cold War-era Romanian Dacia 1300s and Turkish Sahins may not rule the streets much longer in Cairo, where passengers pay what they wish for a ride in the meter-less contraptions.

"Taxis on the road have been operating 24 hours a day for 23 years, with two or three drivers each at one time," Deputy Interior Minister Major-General Sherif Gomaa, who oversees traffic, told Reuters. "Their suspension systems are destroyed, the steering wheels can separate from the steering shaft, and accidents happen, like falling into canals."

MODERNISATION

The drive to get rid of old taxis reflects a broader trend towards modernising consumer products in the most populous Arab country, where megamalls financed by Gulf Arab petrodollars are opening for the first time.

With economic growth at 7 percent a year, retailers, property developers, car makers and banks are posting record profits as Egyptians spend more, buying new products they once couldn't afford.

"You will see many of the older generation keeping their 20-year old stoves and refrigerators they bought when they got married," said Mena Sadek, analyst at Egyptian investment bank Beltone Financial. "But this is changing now."

The Egyptian government, which has overhauled its economy along free-market principles since 2004, says the taxis, besides causing crashes, break down so often they clog up roads, which is bad for business.

They also emit black clouds of smoke as they putter through the city, contributing to a layer of summer smog that settles over Cairo's skyline of minarets and apartment towers topped with satellite dishes.

"The traffic law has been overdue for a long time," said Simon Kitchen, an economist at Egypt's largest investment bank, EFG-Hermes. "There are a lot of very old vehicles on the road and that is a drag on economic performance."