Hi Ed,
I think (from what I can glean) that in the early days, perhaps about 2-3 years ago, the first “settlers” in Mub7 had speakies with Mr Nasser about the future plans for the “village” at that point he agreed to meet with the residents and all sorts of proposals were bandied about such as a coffee house/bar for a meeting place for the residents to meet and socialise, shops, restaurants, communal swimming pools etc and of course the infamous “private beach” which is located directly over the road from the El Gouna end of the “village” (do you like the term “village”? Gives it a sort of homely cosy feel I think).
The feeling I get (and I may be wrong) is that Mr Nasser suddenly realised that he was losing control over what he had created and decided to pull the reigns in. He had already been told that his expansion plans were being curtailed by the local governorate and therefore needed the available space to build more villas (with reduced garden space) to compensate for the curtailment of land space being made available to him.
One by one his verbally agreed assets to the community were rejected and he was reported as saying that “because they were not written, it never happened”.
Obviously the “committee” kicked off and then the statement about the committee would only be recognised by him if it was totally made up of Egyptians with no foreign input whatsoever was reported.
Let me say however, this is just what I have heard from various permanent residents in the “village”, however, it does seem to be a consistent theme.
Anyway, who wants shops in the area; it only tempts Kate to go spending my Stella money on food ‘n’ stuff!
If anyone knows any different to what I have reported, please feel free to jump in and tell us how it really is.
Regards
John