LIVING "By the Real Estate Leaders" Summer 2016- Issue # 9 | Page 10

Why The New ‘Sahel ’ is Heading West For the residents of Cairo, who had been long awaiting the beach season, 2015 was no easy feat. With high hopes of scrambling off to the North Coast every weekend, the reality of the Alamain road being closed off for the entire duration of the summer was a definite bummer. During its time under construction, travelers were forced to drive all the way up North to Alexandria before heading west again to the North Coast, otherwise known as “Sahel”. This meant endless traffic and long hours of driving before they reached their destination. Needless to say nobody was happy about it. Originally the Alamein road that was built to shorten the distance by almost half between Cairo and Sahel as well as Marsa Matrouh played an essential role in tempting property developers to build summer homes further to the west in the areas of Sidi Abdel Rahman and Sidi Heneish where the waters of the Mediterranean are clearer and bluer. Luckily for developers, buyers and casual vacationers, the struggles of commuting for long hours will soon be a thing of the past since, as per official sources. The new ‘Fouka’ road, which will substantially reduce travel time is scheduled to open for business on June 30th, 2016. To shed more light on the recent changes happening in the North Coast in terms of new developments, destinations, roads and vacationer behavior, we interviewed Mostafa Hussein, Broker and Owner of RE/MAX Everest, who is an expert when it comes to changing market trends. 8