El Mandara Mill is safe

CAIRO – 3 August 2017: Mohamed Metwally, the general manager of the Islamic, Coptic and Jewish monuments in Alexandria, announced in a press statement on Wednesday that the El Mandara Mill area is safe and there are no violations of any kind.

This comes in response to what some news websites stating that there were construction violations near the archeological site of El Mandara Mill in Alexandria governorate. He also stated that what has been constructed recently was done outside the perimeter of the archaeological site.

Metwally also stated that the recent constructions were done on a piece land from the south side, which is a private property that stretches over 51 square meters; assuring that the land owners had a construction permit from the governorate and that the permanent committee of Islamic and Coptic monuments had approved the construction in its 2012 session and put conditions and standards to assure the safety of the mill and the site.

Among these conditions and standards was that the building does not exceed the height of nine meters, so it would not affect the site’s panorama, and that the construction would be done in the Arabic simplified style. Also, no electricity lines or water pipes would be established near the mill, with consideration not to open any windows that overlook the site of El Mandara Mill.

Metwally added that the ministry made sure the permanent committee’s standards were followed, assuring that in the case of any violation of the aforementioned standards, the ministry will remove the violating building immediately.

The mill was built around 1807, when Mohamed Ali Pasha, Egypt’s leader at the time, gave orders to construct a number of mills to make it easier for the Egyptian people to grind grain. They used to exert too much effort and money to grind grain with grinders run using animals, so Mohamed Ali Pasha gave orders to construct mills that depend on the power of wind to cover the needs of the army and the people.