A construction company has started building a concrete wall around the perimeter of Hurghada International Airport to replace its original barbed wire fence, in one of several measures taken by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and security authorities to secure the perimeters of Egyptian airports.
The wall will extend along the edge of the Safaga-Hurghada highway for a distance of five kilometers, and will be almost 2.5 meters high, airport sources said.
Surveillance cameras monitored by security authorities will be installed along the wall, according to the sources.
The construction of the wall began a few days ago after committees from several European countries and Russia concluded inspections of passenger and baggage checking procedures in Egyptian airports.
Egypt have made several moves in recent months to tighten all-round airport security, hoping to regain the trust of the international community and airlines who have stayed away since the downing of a Russian plane outside Sharm El Sheikh last year.
On Tuesday, Civil Aviation Minister, Sherif Fatehy, and the British Ambassador to Cairo, John Casson, attended a contract signing ceremony between British security company, Restrata, who will be acting as security consultants to Falcon Group over the coming months.
According to the contract, Restrata will provide a training program for Falcon Group that will last six months and will train 7,000 security personnel hired by the Civil Aviation Ministry to secure airports, focusing especially on the improvement of passenger and baggage checks.
Despite the efforts from the Egyptian side, the British government remains on the fence about whether to lift a ban on flights to Egyptian tourist spots enforced after the Russian plane crash of last November that killed all 224 people on board.
Casson said the British government was still assessing the security situation at Egyptian airports, but nevertheless, praised the move to improve security at Egyptian airports and was delighted that Britain would play a part in efforts to that end.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
