Cairo Governor Atef Abdel-Hamid has announced the expansion of a project started last month to legally recognise and regulate street vendors in Cairo neighborhoods.

The announcement comes one month after the successful implementation of the project on a smaller scale in some areas in Cairo governorate.

The governor said that the project involves allocating pieces of land to street vendors close to where they already operate, with infrastructural facilities and security services to be provided in exchange for a monthly payment.

Work is currently underway to implement the project at three different sites in the Nozha, Ain Shams and East Nasr City areas of Cairo.

According to 2010 figures from Egypt's Central Agency For Public Mobilisation and Statistics, nearly 11.2 million Egyptians work in the informal economy.

Work on the project started after the Administrative Control Authoritycalled for recognising and regulating the work of young owners of small, informal enterprises such as food carts and street vendors, which would lessen unemployment and manage the activities of street vendors.

Ahmed Mustafa, the chairman of the company that has executed part of the project, has said that every business owner pays around EGP 1,450 per month in return for leasing the land and making use of services.

The project has been considered a success following its preliminary launch last month in the Nozha neighborhood in Heliopolis district, attracting a significant number of food carts and other small projects as well as talent shows and other cultural activities.  

In recent years, several nationwide campaigns have been undertaken to relocate and formally recognise Egypt's street vendors.