Mohandessin

Mohandiseen (Egyptian Arabic: المهندسين, romanized: Al-Mohandisīn, lit. 'The Engineers', pronounced [almohændɪˈsiːn]) is a major 1940s sub-division project originally named Madinat al-Awqaf, and made up most of the Wasat (middle) district in the city of Giza, before being divided in 1997 into the districts of Agouza (covers most of the district) and Dokki (Covers half of the district). Al-Mohandessin in Arabic literally means the engineers, after one of the sub-districts that was sold to the Engineers' Syndicate cooperative, and becoming the colloquial name for most of the Agouza side.

History

Mohandessin used to be a mostly royal and state-owned agricultural estate held under waqf (endowment) until the early 20th Century with villages, such as Mit Okba, and 'izbas (hamlets) such as al-Hutiyya, and 'Awlad Allam. From the 1930s the Ministry of Awqaf, that owned the land, had piloted plans to turn the estates into a new suburban district of Cairo as Dokki to its south flourished. In 1948, its chief architect Mahmoud Riad set out the final plan of Madinat al-Awqaf, with plots being advertised for sale that year. The new district was subdivided into a number of large plots sold at subsidised prices - after the July 1952 Revolution - to twenty housing cooperatives representing professional syndicates with over two thousand members, including those set up for the military, navy, police, judges, medical doctors (Aṭibbā’), radio and television (Madinat al-'ilam), journalists (Ṣaḥafiyyīn), teachers (Mu‘allimīn), and engineers (Madinat al-Mohandessin). Large land plots of 500 to 1,000 square meters were sold after a 30 percent discount, which the Awqaf bore, at LE 2–3 per square meter, paid off over fifteen years without interest, while members of the cooperatives were able to access soft loans to build at 3 percent interest.