Egypt’s animal-drawn cart owners are struggling as the government has intensified its crackdown on them in the last few months in order to clean up Cairo’s streets and ease traffic congestion, which costs the Egyptian economy billions of dollars.

The campaign, called “Cairo Without Animal-Drawn Carts,” started in October 2017 with the aim of putting an end to a scene that upsets many residents while at the same time guaranteeing a dignified life for the cart owners by giving them an alternative — either a motorcycle or a pickup truck, depending on their needs.

The price of the vehicle is paid for in part by selling the cart and the remainder is funded by soft loans repaid to the government in either short-term or long-term installments. The motor vehicles provided to cart owners are financed by the Social Fund for Development, the Ministry of State Housing, Utilities and Urban Development and the National Bank of Egypt.

Khaled Moustafa, the spokesman for the Cairo governorate, said that a total of 130 animal-drawn cart owners have given up their carts since the campaign was launched in October, and that some of them are now taking driving lessons in order to drive the motor vehicles.