If you’ve spent time in Maadi lately you may have noticed a change in some of its side streets. The potholes and debris are gradually being replaced with neat and tidy interlock paving that is giving Maadi the look of a gated community, only without the gates.

What started out as a limited residential experiment on a small portion of Road 79 has now expanded to include more than 10 streets in Sarayat El Maadi… and it is just the beginning, Laila Hussein, the president of Sarayat El Maadi Occupant Union (SMOU), told EnterpriseAM.

What exactly is interlock?

Interlock pavers are molded concrete bricks that fit together like puzzle pieces to create a stable surface without mortar. They are relatively quick and easy to install and present a cheaper, durable alternative to asphalt or poured concrete. Interlock is particularly suitable for driveways, lower-speed residential streets, and cul de sacs. The SMOU project does not include any of the main streets of Maadi.

A 2k-meter stretch of road that is between 4-5 meters wide costs EGP 800k to 1 mn. The total cost is typically divided up among the area's residents, so the cost per unit varies depending on street and building size and the number of participating buildings. One Maadi resident whose street is about to be paved told EnterpriseAM that each apartment in his building is paying an average of EGP 5k.

About SMOU

The driving force behind this unique nonprofit public private partnership is Hussein and a handful of dedicated Maadi women. SMOU was founded 11 years ago by Hussein and a group of 16 Maadi businessmen, including her husband Amr Helmy, chairman of Amr Helmy Designs, and CEO Wadi Degla Holding Maged Helmy. Their mandate was to tackle community projects within the perimeter of Sarayat El Maadi, which extends from Road 9 to Road 250. Today the occupant union stands as a rare example of a successful collaboration between private residents and the Maadi District to bridge the funding gap and deliver badly needed infrastructure in Maadi.

“Our funding used to come from our founding members and that’s what gave us our first push, but that’s no longer the case. Now it’s the residents of Maadi themselves who are contributing financially to upgrade their streets and sidewalks,” Hussein explains. “The more people see the positive results, the more they want to contribute. Residents are the ones now reaching out to SMOU, not the other way around.”

Community engagement: A hallmark of Maadi culture

“Many of our families have lived here for generations and we are keen to preserve the heritage of our community,” Nadine Azmi, president of the Maadi Environmental Rangers (MER) told EnterpriseAM. “The idea of community activism has been handed down to us by our mothers, who were all active members in the community.”

MER is another example of an organization that has been active in Maadi for 30 years, acting as a liaison between local civil society and government. As a registered NGO, they focus on raising environmental awareness in Maadi schools and undertaking greening and cleanup projects within Sarrayat El Maadi.

The 2025 Canal Street revitalization, one of the organization’s most impactful projects to date, involved cleaning, planting, and paving a section of Canal Street. SMOU also worked in and around the same area after the departure of the Israeli ambassador. The project included demolishing barricades around the ambassador’s former residence, fixing streets and sidewalks and planting trees in collaboration with the Maadi Tree Lovers Association.

The current and former Maadi District heads, Mohamed El Emam and Tarek El Behairy, reaffirmed their commitment to working with the neighborhood associations during a joint appearance at a recent SMOU event held to commemorate the public sector employees, construction workers, and cleaners who have been transforming the streets of Maadi. It was clear that they have found a winning formula for public private cooperation that they will continue to pursue.

Can the model be replicated elsewhere?

Neighborhoods like Zamalek, similar in demographics to Sarayat El Maadi, come to mind, but thus far the example of residents taking on infrastructure projects is a first in Maadi.