Why is Egypt painting all its buildings in ‘dusty’ colours

Cairo, Jan 23: It is something which we have seen in India. Buildings and structures of the capital city of a state being painted in same colour since the top leader loves them. Though there is no explicit instruction from the leader to the officials to paint the city as per her colour preferences, something on those lines has taken place in Egypt.

Several residential and commercial buildings in the North African country have been painted in "dusty" and blue shades following an order from its president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, according to a report in The Guardian.

El-Sisi has sought buildings across Egypt to come up with a unified colour scheme and while dusty shades have been chosen for Cairo, blue is to be used for the coastal cities.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly backed the decree and was quoted as telling by The Guardian to his cabinet: "The plan is to have unified colours for the buildings instead of this uncivilised scene."

He also said the decree sought the local authorities to paint the buildings fast or face punishment.

Egypt, which has a population of nearly 100 million, has several clusters of red-brick buildings and towers and as per the new order, the colour schemes will be determined by the area, said the head of the National Organisation for Urban Harmony, Mohammed Abu Saada.

The latest decree comes with various government austerity measures, cuts to subsidies and arrests of several citizens.

Egypt saw a change of guard in 2011 when three decades-long dictator Hosni Mubarak was uprooted in a public protest but his democratically elected successor Mohammed Morsi was deposed in just over a year (2012-13) and in 2014, former army chief el-Sisi came to power.