Greening Sharm
It’s an ambitious project and plenty of challenges lie ahead. Zaazou says one of the toughest will be persuading the burgeoning hotel sector in Sharm el Sheikh to increase efficiency and cut emissions.
There are currently around 45,000 rooms in operation, built using old building codes.
“Regarding the hotels we decided that little things can be done that will make a big difference — for example, changing the light bulbs to energy saving will make a big difference in reducing emissions.
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“[We will be] creating awareness programmes for the guests to use less towels, and using detergents that have less of an impact on the environment.”
Protection of the marine habitats around Sharm el Sheikh will form a major pillar of the project — many of the coral reefs in the area now are in a sadly decaying state thanks to waste from the hotel industry and destruction by tourists.
“Regarding the biodiversity there has been degradation because of the numbers coming here to swim. People throw trash in the water — some of them do not know that they can’t touch the reefs and they harm it, so we need to give much more attention in that respect and have a programme for that,” Zaazou says.
The target is to reduce degradation by 5% every year. One idea is to earmark ‘zones’ in the sea for swimming. “Areas that are really in danger we will make only for really professional divers because they know how to take care of the environment, and have no-go areas for novice divers or snorkellers. It’s about thinking out of the box in this way,” he adds.
Furthermore, transport in Sharm el Sheikh will also receive an overhaul, with only eco-friendly forms of transport allowed in the city centre in years to come.
“There will be no cars — just eco-friendly or emission-free public transport. In the next five or six years I believe we will have zones, so in the downtown area you will only be able to commute using electrical coaches and cars.
Your own regular car will come into the city and stop at a certain point where you will only be able to use eco-friendly transport. We will use electric buses for public transport and issue decrees to use a specific kind of fuel.”
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