Proposed new capital of Egypt

Proposed new capital of Egypt
City
Proposed new capital of Egypt

Location in Egypt

Coordinates: EG 30°02′N 31°47′E / 30.03°N 31.78°E / 30.03; 31.78Coordinates: EG 30°02′N 31°47′E / 30.03°N 31.78°E / 30.03; 31.78
Country  Egypt
Metropolitan area Greater Cairo
Area (as planned)
 • City centre 5.6 km2 (2.2 sq mi)
 • Urban 700 km2 (300 sq mi)
Population (as planned)
 • City centre 250,000
 • Density 45,000/km2 (120,000/sq mi)
 • Urban 5,000,000
 • Urban density 7,100/km2 (18,000/sq mi)
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
Website thecapitalcairo.com

The proposed new capital of Egypt is a large-scale project announced by Egyptian housing minister Mostafa Madbouly at the Egypt Economic Development Conference on 13 March 2015.[1]

The new, yet-unnamed city is to be located 45 kilometers (28 miles) east of Cairo and just outside the Second Greater Cairo Ring Road in a currently largely undeveloped area halfway to the seaport city of Suez. According to the plans, the city would become the new administrative and financial capital of Egypt, housing the main government departments and ministries, as well as foreign embassies. On 700 square kilometres (270 sq mi) total area, it would have a population of five million people, though it is estimated that the figure could rise to seven million.[2][3]

Officially, a major reason for the undertaking of the project was to relieve congestion in Cairo, which is already one of the world's most crowded cities, with the population of greater Cairo expected to double in the next few decades.[4][5]

Plans

The city is planned to consist of 21 residential districts and 25 "dedicated districts." Its downtown is to have skyscrapers and a tall monument said to resemble the Eiffel Tower and Washington Monument. The city will also have a park double the size of New York City's Central Park, artificial lakes, about 2,000 educational institutions, a technology and innovation park, 663 hospitals and clinics, 1,250 mosques, 40,000 hotel rooms, a major theme park four times the size of Disneyland, 90 square kilometers of solar energy farms, an electric railway link with Cairo, and a new international airport at the site of the preexisting Wadi al Jandali Airport currently used by the Egyptian Air Force.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][4][3][13] It will be built as a smart city. It is planned that the transfer of parliament, presidential palaces, government ministries and foreign embassies will be completed between 2020 and 2022 at a cost of US $45 billion. A full cost and timescale for the overall project has not been disclosed.[12]

Feedback on former experiences of capital flight was looked at, for instance by meeting with representatives from Astana, which replaced Almaty as the capital city of Kazakhstan in 1997.[14]

Construction

Speaking prior to the official announcement, Egypt's investment minister Ashraf Salman had already mentioned the possibility of a new capital being "developed, master-planned and executed by a private sector company", at no cost to the Egyptian treasury.[15] It was revealed that the city will be built by Capital City Partners, a private real estate investment firm led by Emirati businessman Mohamed Alabbar.[2]

When the project was officially announced in March 2015, it was revealed that the Egyptian military had already begun building a road from Cairo to the site of the future capital.[13]

In September 2015 Egypt cancelled the MoU signed with the UAE’s Mohamed Alabbar during the March economic summit since they did not make any progress with the proposed plans.[16] In the same month Egypt signed a new MoU with China State Construction Engineering Corporation (or "China Construction"), to “study building and financing” the administrative part of the new capital, which will include ministries, government agencies and the president’s office.[17] According to an Egyptian news paper, Egyptian construction company El-Mokawloon El-Arab was called for constructing the water supply and sewage lines to the proposed new capital. The company stated that the studies needed were done in August and it is supposed that the project will take 3 months to supply the city with the main services needed in order to prepare it for the construction work.

References

  1. ↑ "Egypt plans new capital adjacent to Cairo". Al Jazeera. 14 March 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Egypt to build new administrative and business capital". BBC News. 13 March 2015.
  3. 1 2 Walker, Brian (16 March 2015). "Egypt unveils plan to build glitzy new capital". CNN. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  4. 1 2 "New capital to cut Cairo overcrowding - The National".
  5. ↑ "So why is Egypt building a new capital city right next to Cairo?". CityMetric. New Statesman. 19 March 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  6. ↑ Kingsley, Patrick (16 March 2015). "A new New Cairo: Egypt plans £30bn purpose-built capital in desert" – via The Guardian.
  7. ↑ "Thinking big". 21 March 2015 – via The Economist.
  8. ↑ "Egypt Unveils Plan for Dubai-Style Desert Capital - VICE News".
  9. ↑ "First Glimpse At Egypt's New Capital City". 13 March 2015.
  10. ↑ Jennings, Gareth (21 September 2014). "US reaffirms Apache delivery to Egypt". Jane's Defence Weekly. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  11. ↑ "Wadi Al Jandali Airport code and information".
  12. 1 2 "Egyptian government reveals plans to build new capital city east of Cairo". ABC News. 14 March 2015.
  13. 1 2 "Egypt Announces Plans to Build New Capital". AP. 13 March 2015 – via The New York Times.
  14. ↑ (Russian) Egypt takes over the experience of Astana for transferring capital, Zakon.kz, 14 March 2016.
  15. ↑ "Egypt announces plans for new capital city amid signals of renewed Gulf ties". Jerusalem Post. 1 March 2015.
  16. ↑ "Egypt cancels MoU with UAE's AlAbbar to develop administrative capital". 7 September 2015.
  17. ↑ "Egypt signs deal with China Construction to build, finance, part of...".

External links

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