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silent partner
when abdel salam al mahgoub was appointed governor of alexandria
in 1997, people knew that the ancient city, neglected for almost
a decade, would be in good hands. few, however, could have predicted
the radical changes that the intelligence officer-turned-public
official would introduce, transforming alexandria into a model of
economic and social improvement that most governors only dream of
replicating.
by rehab el-bakry
the media have often characterized abdel salam al mahgoub as an
atypical public official who enjoys working in silence. although
alexandria's transformation was hard for the press to ignore, al
mahgoub found it surprisingly easy to ignore the press - turning
down nearly every interview request since becoming governor of alexandria
nine years ago. but to characterize him as media-shy would be inaccurate.
rather, he's got the skill to handle the media but doesn't crave
the limelight.
when business monthly sat with him in alexandria, it was soon obvious
that as an animated and charming speaker, al mahgoub handles his
rare interviews with poise and self-assuredness. while he's more
than happy to list off the accomplishments that have unfolded throughout
the governorate over the last decade, he prefers to let others relate
them for him.
"i don't speak about the transformation that has taken place
in alexandria since... these achievements can speak for themselves.
the people of alexandria can speak about them. the businesses of
alexandria can speak of them. i simply don't need to," he says
with a confident grin.
alexandria is actually al mahgoub's second success story. his first
was ismailia, where during his short tenure as governor - less than
three years in total - he spearheaded a campaign to improve the
aesthetic quality of the decaying canal city. he improved the city's
infrastructure, ordered its public areas cleaned up, erected statues
in the main squares and constructed a a public park overlooking
the suez canal. "when i was in ismailia, i started with the
aesthetics of the city because i believe this is the first thing
that affects a resident's mindset, [and it's] also the first thing
visitors comment about when they visit," he recalls.
he believes that it was his success in ismailia that earned him
the alexandria appointment. but giving the quiet canal city a facelift
is one thing; changing the culture, infrastructure and investment
climate of alexandria, a sprawling port city of 4 million people
was something altogether different. "when it came to ismailia,
the necessary changes were easy to spot because the city was small.
in alexandria the situation was very different. the city is much
larger and its problems a lot more complex."
one of the most illustrious cities of the ancient world, the former
summer residence of the egyptian government, and a playground of
the world's rich and famous in the early 20th century, alexandria
is a proud and spirited city with a rich legacy. but at the time
of al mahgoub's appointment in 1997, it was coming apart at the
seams. poor governance, misguided decision-making and years of neglect
had taken a heavy toll. the city's infrastructure was in disrepair,
garbage piled high in the streets, unemployment was on the rise
and investment had dried up. al mahgoub realized he was starting
from scratch.
al mahgoub, originally from a small village in nearby dakahliya
governorate, recognized the great civic pride of alexandria's people,
who are proud of their heritage and see themselves not simply as
egyptians, but as alexandrians. using this pride as a basic building
block, he formulated a plan that would transform alexandria into
a cultural and economic hub to rival cairo. "i had a vision
for this city [because] i could see potential around every corner,"
he says.
but he admits, he didn't do it alone. he sought partners in the
private sector to help get prompt, effective results. among them
was now minister of trade and industry rachid mohamed rachid, at
the time one of alexandria's biggest and most influential businessmen.
al mahgoub sought rachid's assistance in getting the city's business
community to see him as a partner rather than an adversary, and
help the governor formulate and implement a mutually beneficial
strategy. "i'm a firm believer in teamwork. when you work in
a team, you benefit from the input and experience of all its members.
the more diversified their experiences, the more diversified their
perspectives and the more effective the entire team becomes,"
he says.
working in partnership with the private sector, al mahgoub and his
team identified where they wanted to see their city in 10 and 20
years' time, inventoried the city's resources and conducted independent
research to determine the different projects needed to upgrade the
city. a key ingredient would be aesthetics. al mahgoub believed
that if people could see the changes taking place, and be proud
of them, they would invest in their city's development.
his starting point was the now-famous alexandria corniche, a 20-kilometer
artery running along the city's coastline. al mahgoub leaned on
the city's business community to help pay for the road expansion
and cleanup along the highly visible waterfront. he also enlisted
the talents of art students at alexandria university to help decorate
the walls of buildings facing the corniche. all this coincided with
a city-wide public awareness campaign encouraging the public to
participate in initiatives to beautify the city by abstaining from
littering, using their car horns and picking flowers in public areas.
egyptians were skeptical that people would respond to the appeal,
but to much of the nation's shock, alexandria's citizens complied.
in a matter of three years, with the renovated corniche as its starting
point, the mediterranean city was transformed from a has-been port
living on its historic legacy into one of the country's cleanest,
most organized and vibrant cities. "everyone was so surprised
that the experiment worked, but i wasn't," says al mahgoub.
he was confident in the civic pride of alexandrians, and knew they
were ready to participate if only certain he would carry through
on his end of the bargain.
"every governor who was appointed tried to introduce improvements.
perhaps the difference was... the people of alexandria trusted me.
this is the key. when i made promises, they were willing to give
me the benefit of the doubt that i might actually do as i promised.
when they found that i kept my first couple of promises and that
every piastre donated for a project actually went toward that project,
their faith in me and in what i was trying to do grew," he
says.
empowered by the people, al mahgoub and his team set about to resurrect
alexandria's historic legacy. at $220 million, the bibliotheca alexandrina
was built on the very site where the city's ancient library - a
bastion of ancient learning and culture - once stood. the state-of-the-art
facility was designed as more than just a library. equipped with
a conference center, theater complex, planetarium and museums, it
became a cultural focal point and the city's international showpiece.
similar projects, such as the $25 million top-to-bottom renovation
of the sayed darwish theater, added value to the city while helping
to tackle the unemployment issue. more than just entertainment venues,
these cultural centers provide jobs for laborers during the construction
phase and require a large body of administrators, technicians and
artists for their daily operations.
as alexandria grew, investors took notice. but to secure investment,
al mahgoub needed to ensure that business didn't get bogged down
in the labyrinth of legal jargon. instead of being over-occupied
with every obscure byline passed by the government over the past
50 years - a technique often used to hinder the implementation of
projects - al mahgoub focused on ways of turning laws into tools
for investors.
"laws are created to regulate, not impede," he says. "that's
why i'm a big believer in implementing the spirit of the law without
hindering people's businesses or lives. facilitating an environment
that will encourage more investment means the creation of more jobs
in alexandria, which will lead to social development. that's how
this goal got the economic wheel turning."
al mahgoub's faith in the private sector is immeasurable. rather
than follow the traditional mode of operation, where the government
tries to implement projects single-handedly, he believes the government
should adopt a hands-off approach, focusing instead on facilitating
the private sector's management of projects. "i think that
the private sector can manage money better than the public sector
can because its existence depends on making a profit from services
provided to consumers," he says. "that's why i believe
that the private sector will always manage services better than
any other type of body."
the alexandria corniche project initiated under al mahgoub with
the assistance of the city's business community was the first successful
implementation of public-private partnership (ppp) in egypt - a
model that nearly a decade later has been incorporated into the
national policy agenda. subsequent ppp projects in alexandria covered
public transportation, port development and garbage collection -
services previously tightly controlled by the government.
perhaps the most courageous of these was the decision to award a
15-year, e500 million contract to private french waste management
company onyx to remove and treat the 2,600 tons of waste produced
by the city's residents each day. service began on october 1, 2001
in the downtown area and was gradually expanded to cover the entire
governorate. but it wasn't free - the cost of clean streets was
carried onto electricity bills of the
residents.
although the fees for these services went up, so did the quality
of the services. "we raised the price of the service, but we
determined these prices relative to the incomes of the neighborhoods,"
he says. "there have never been complaints filed in courts
against the decision to raise the price of services because the
quality of the services has improved tremendously."
al mahgoub sees public-private partnership as a mutually beneficial
relationship. "i firmly believe in the ideas of free economy,"
he says. "i also believe that the public-private partnership
is actually the first step toward privatizing all the assets of
the governorate of alexandria, which is my ultimate goal."
indeed one of the main reasons that alexandria has experienced an
influx of private investment is al mahgoub's willingness to identify
the needs of private investors and facilitate them. major projects,
such as the green plaza shopping mall in smouha and the £e
1 billion san stefano project on the waterfront, would not have
been possible without a suitable investment climate. and that, says
al mahgoub, requires swift, sound decision-making. "i believe
that you should research an issue before you make a decision,"
he says. "however, this information has to be gathered in a
timely fashion and then you just have to make the decision. [timeliness]
is essential, especially if you're dealing with the private sector,
in which delayed decisions translate into lost money."
"when i review a feasibility study submitted by an investor,
i put myself in his shoes and try to identify what the governorate
needs to do in order to ensure that this project makes money and
employs people. i think of every project as jobs waiting to happen,
and as another investment in the wings," he says. if a project
falls behind, he is the first to sit down with the investors or
the project managers to see what is holding it back. then he finds
ways to provide the support they need to get back on schedule.
it's this kind of uncommon patronage that has made al mahgoub the
darling of investors, both local and foreign. investment in the
governorate is on the rise and it is challenging cairo's title as
the country's investment capital. but al mahgoub says it's really
not about rivalry, but rather about the best interests of the city
and the country. "i think that we need to work to improve investment
in the country as a whole," he says. "if alexandria succeeds
at providing investors with an environment that is conducive to
investment, so be it."
there are limits to al mahgoub's impartial magnanimity, however.
"a bit of competition is always healthy," he says with
a grin. "it keeps everyone on their toes."
the string of successes turned by the governorate, the city of alexandria
and its people have been a point of envy for many egyptians. some
have wondered why this successful experiment couldn't be replicated
elsewhere in the country. attempts by other governorates, such as
cairo and giza governorates' contracting of private foreign companies
to manage garbage collection, have not lived up to expectations.
"almost all the decisions that were adopted in alexandria were
shared with other governorates. so we kept no secrets. however,
i believe that attempts to simply replicate the alexandria strategy
nationwide without taking into consideration the specific characteristics
that make each governorate unique, resulted in only limited success
of these experiments," he says.
rumors have circulated for almost two years that al mahgoub turned
down a ministerial position in the nazif cabinet in order to remain
governor. he neither confirmed nor denied the rumor to business
monthly. his reply was simply, "no comment," along with
a bright smile. "however," he says, "if it were up
to me, i would choose to end my professional career as the governor
of alexandria, in the city that i have come to love so much and
whose people embraced me as if i were one of their own. what more
can anyone ask for than to work with people who love you and appreciate
your work? few people can boast of that. i can."
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