Utilities Management in Egypt Governerates - A Unique Experience
Dr. Sayyed Badr Al-Sayyed Ali, Head of Greater Cairo Utility Data Centre.
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1- History And Background
Greater Cairo is an urban conglomerate with more than
(12) million inhabitants and extremely high population
density and rapid population growth. Between 1970 and 1990
the number of inhabitants has more than doubled . Also the
inhabitant area was in 1990 , 260 km.sq. but now in 1997 it
is 440 km.sq.
The network of underground utilities in Cairo contains at
present almost 800 000 km. of different kinds of pipes and
cables (water, sewerage , electricity, gas and telephone)
and the growth of the network is about 5000 km annually. the
mapping of underground utilities has been inadequate and for
older pipeline maps often do not exist at all. Traditionally
mapping and data collection and retrieval on underground
utilities has been carried out by each utility organization
separately (not on map scaled or co-ordinates x, y, z )
without co-ordination at the central city administration
level.
Budget losses resulting from unnecessary damage during
excavation and construction operation have in the 1980's
amounted to hundred of millions of L . E. Estimates of
unnecessary costs from damage to underground utilities in
connection with the METRO project have been estimated to be
close to 30 percent of total project expenditure .
It becomes clear that establishing of a solid base of
surveying and producing an accurate map with scale 1:500 is
the backbone of the capital of Egypt, to complete the GIS
Center in Cairo.
2- OBJECTIVES OF G.C.U.D.C OPERATION
The objective of U D C is to bring new dimensions to the utility management of the city by improving the accuracy of the location information of utilities and by improving the services rendered to the users of information .
2.1 The mission of UDC is implemented by
* Monitoring of underground construction in Cairo by acting as a technical arm of the govemorate when issuing digging licenses for construction works,
* Establishing and maintaining computerized data bases containing accurate information of locations of underground utilities, gradually covering the entire Greater Cairo,
* Maintaining public services offices for the users of the utilities data in which the data can be retrieved from the data bases and released to the clients in form of maps, computer print outs etc., for the permanent users of the data, as the utility agencies, the services will be extended to their own offices through data terminals.
* Providing specialized field surveying and detection services when requested by the clients or deemed appropriate from the public management point of view,
* Rendering specialized consulting services for organizations dealing with urban management.
The development strategy has emphasized establishment of an efficient and reliable client service activity and training personal for it. Through the services fees U D C has been able to generate own income already from the beginning of client service activity and by the way relieve the financial burden of the govemorate related to the activity. Gradually along with the client service activity the utility data base coverage of the city will increase.
However, the fundamental question in the development U D C is how soon a substantial utility data base coverage of entire city will be reached. U D C is not a service organization for surveying, mapping and detection of utilities only, but a modem city survey department having the digital base map and digital utility information as its basic assets. This calls for a rather "Aggressive " investment policy particularly in the beginning of the operations.
2.2 In an economic study on U D C carried out in 1990 it was envisaged that in a favorable case the cumulative net cash flow due to the activity may break even within 10 years of operation. In the less favorable case, i.e. little or no income from the data base products will be available, however, the financial sustainability will never be reached. U D C is a public service organization and it is questionable to what extend the own income generation should cover the costs. In most European countries the service fees for similar or comparable services cover about one third (1/3) of the total cost of the activity only.
The above study indicated also that the economic benefits as the cost savings and the damage reduction due to the activity are considerable. The sooner the entire city is covered with a comprehensive utility data base the sooner the benefits can be capitalized.
Utility management is only a part of urban management as a whole. In addition to the utility management system the components of an urban information management system comprise as:
- A base map system sitting the geodetic reference system and illustrating the physical features of the city.
- A land management system including the cadastre, land use maps, physical plans etc.
- A traffic management system comprising data on the traffic network, traffic control system and the like.
- In CAIRO the establishment of the other components of the urban information management system can be substantially benefit from the existence of the utility data management system. The same philosophy and the same type facilities can be applied in the development of the other components.
3- Demand of UDC Services
The demand of UDC services follows the development of the
city. There is very little demand in a pure commercial
sense, because the services are mainly related to public
investments or public administration of the city. The
position of UDC in this respect is quite similar to that of
the utility agencies, with the exception that the
underground utilities data management is not that vital for
city functions than e.g. water and electricity supply.
UDC shall be considered as a public service that is flinded
through public funds, although a substantial part of the
costs can be covered by service fees charged from the
clients.
The demand of development of UDC should be assessed from the City administration point view, i.e. what is appropriate and beneficial for the management and administration of the City. The development objectives of UDC can be based on a common experience throughout the world that it is advantageous to maintain a city survey office that bears the responsibility for urban mapping and cartographic affairs including reliable up-to-date information on underground utilities.Therefore ,the demand of development activities can be outlined from the commonly accepted development objectives.
4- UDC in Target Situation
In accordance with the general objectives discussed above the fundamental features of UDC in a "mature" situation can be outlined. In that situation UDC will:
- Have an efficient client services extended over the entire city through its branch offices (5 Branches)
- Be able to monitor all underground construction in the Greater Cairo thus being able to be up-to-date in regard to all utility works.
- Have an up-to-date comprehensive data base of all utilities within the residential and industrial areas of Cairo, that is approximately 441sq km, for the perusal of various private clients, utility agencies, planning offices.... etc.
- Have a comprehensive large scale base map of the relevant areas of the Cit approximately 500 sq. km., as a supporting layer for the utility data .
5. Economic Analysis
Identification and quantification of UDC benefits has been the most difficult task in the economic analysis of Cairo UDC. The analysis should, due to the lack of recorded data, primarily relay on information from other cities and try to construct a relevant model of benefits. Although a number of direct and indirect benefits as well as tangible and intangible benefits can be listed, it is a general practice to limit the numerical analysis to the clearly recognizable benefits only.
There are two distinct direct benefits to be considered in Cairo:
- Cost savings due to centralized one-visit service,
- Damage reductions in terms of both the number of damages and the severeness of them.
There are plenty of indirect benefits, which can be recognized, but the quantification of them will not be possible. Generally these benefits will materialize through improvement of urban management in Cairo as follows:
- Improved urban planning: adequate maps and data on utilities will be available as well as possibility for systematic numerical analyses in planning.
- Improved implementation of urban public works: savings can be gained in planning of implementation, in design and in execution of construction works through adequate data.
- Improved operation and maintenance of utility systems.
- Improved traffic management.
- improved environment conditions through better management of hazardous situations.
The inhabitants of the City of Cairo will be the main beneficiaries. However, the direct benefits credit also the Govemorate, the utility agencies and the various clients of UDC.
6. Data Management
The data management (GIS) is used for map automation,
data conversion, geographic data base management, generation
of map overlays, and spatial analysis.
In addition in municipal and infrastructure management the
GIS system provides a platform for data integration so that
a common reference system can be adopted.
A chart illustrating the process from data acquisition in
the field up to the output is presented in figure.
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Digital Data |
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Digitizing of | ||||||
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Digitizing or |
7- Targets Achieved IN 3 Years
7-1 Using GIS Technology
7-1 - 1 Layers of different utilities.
7-1-2 Quick Service to utilities damage.
7-1-3 Co-ordination of new utilities installing
7-1-4 Right Selection of nation project
7-2 UDC
7-2-1 Controlling of any digging in Cairo
7-2-2 decreasing of random digging
7-2-3 choosing the more suitable installing of different-
utilities in one area (one street)
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