The role of Earth Sciences in development of the Egyptian society  ( Ira Project for Egypt Development)

ABSTRACT

            It is known that Egypt is about 1 million km2in area, 97% of it is desert and mountainous lands and about 3% are suitable for cultivation. Moreover, the water resources are limited and Egypt population was about 74.9 million (according to UN Report of 2005) and reaches about 85 million in 2012. .Most of them is concentrated in the Nile Valley, Nile Delta, Cairo, Alexandria and some cities along Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea. These facts indicate that Egypt is facing three big problems: Prevailing of desert and mountains lands, high population density concentrated in limited areas and deficiency of water. So, here the roles of geologists and earth sciences are very important in planning for the development of the Egyptian society.

             The idea of this paper depends on two main factors in the developments of the Egyptian society: 1. Utilization of the natural resources; mainly economic mineral deposits and valuable rocks which are of wide distribution in Sinai, Eastern Desert and Western Desert of Egypt. 2. The available infrastructures in these areas. Based on the integration of these two factors, some development industrial centers can be planned and established with minimum infrastructures expenses. These centers can be changed to big cities in the future

             In this contest four development axes are proposed in Sinai following some main roads from West to East. Another four development axes are proposed in the Eastern Desert of Egypt from west to east, i.e. from Nile Valley to Red Sea. In the Western Desert one main development axis are recommended following the main Oases road which almost located at central zone of the Western Desert.

Accordingly, several development centers which are suitable for the existing natural resources are recommended to be constructed on these axes. The project area covers about 95% of total country area. After the performance of the proposed development centers, through this project, the demographic map will be changed for better distribution. It will positively affect the economic situation of the country; it will reduce the jobless personnel and will increase the standard level of the Egyptian society. Moreover, it will increase the national security for Egypt.