Egypt’s new capital to be twice the size of Cairo
New city will house the presidency, Cabinet, parliament and ministries
Billboards across Cairo advertise luxury homes with “breathtaking” views in compounds with names like “La Verde” or “Vinci” in Egypt’s new capital that is under construction in the desert, miles from the Nile-side city which has been the seat of power for more than 1,000 years.
Often, what lies behind the billboards are Cairo’s most overcrowded neighbourhoods, with shoddily built homes and dirt roads frequently inundated with sewage water.
A city of some 20 million people combining charm and squalor, Cairo may soon witness an exodus by well-heeled residents, state employees and foreign embassies to the New Administrative Capital, as the vast project in the desert is provisionally known.
The city is being built on 170,000 acres about 45km east of Cairo and nearly twice its size. Construction began in 2016, and the first of its forecast 6.5 million residents are scheduled to move there next year.
The new capital - a proper name has yet to be found - is the $45 billion (Dh165 billion) brainchild of Abdul Fattah Al Sissi, the biggest of the megaprojects he launched since taking office in 2014.
“History will do justice to this generation of Egyptians and our grandsons will remember its achievement, a wave of construction unprecedented in modern-day Egypt,” Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly, also the housing minister, said.