CAIRO — Cairo's ubiquitous street vendors are finally getting a place of their own. Gov. Atef Abdel Hamid, along with the Ministry of Local Development, recently launched Egypt Street, a project that aims to relocate the kiosks and carts of craftsmen and fast-food vendors into an area designated for them.

The governorate announced June 14 it initially has designated a 1,000-square-meter, state-owned plot in al-Nazha neighborhood as an experiment. The site doesn't encroach on residential areas and will be equipped with surveillance cameras for security.

After Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi launched a 2016 development campaign to encourage young Egyptians to establish small- and medium-sized enterprises, the Cairo governorate followed up with this project, which "aims to curb unemployment rates, regulate the work of street vendors, reduce road congestion and supervise the food offered to consumers through these carts," Abdel Hamid told Al-Monitor.

Abdel Hamid said an Egyptian company specializing in exhibitions would be setting up the area designated for kiosks. "The project will serve as a cultural and artistic recreational platform, which appeals to different social segments, so as to attract a large number of daily visitors to Egypt Street," he said. "The assigned company will also inspect the mobile kiosks, ensure compliance with cleanliness and civil protection standards, and collect the monthly fees and send back to the governorate an amount to be agreed upon based on the number of licenses granted to these [young] street vendors."