CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt is running to prepare a grand new capital in the desert east of Cairo before the first officials move in this summer and before the late official opening of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s flagship project.
In the city center, workers are putting an end to an avenue of ministries that echo the architecture of Pharaonic temples and adjoin an elevated Islamic complex, two domed parliament buildings and an extensive presidential complex. .
There will be a monorail passing through a business district where a 385-meter central tower is nearing completion. Beyond, the outlines of a 10km park that stretches to a giant mosque are taking shape.
The city, known simply as the new administrative capital, is designed to operate with smart technology on pristine terrain away from the clutter and chaos of Cairo. It will have universities, leisure facilities and a diplomatic district.
But it has managed to halt progress, and after funding for the UAE was cut short after it was announced in 2015, the military and government assumed the estimated $ 25 billion cost of the first phase, injecting investment outside of the budget.
Some foreign loans and financing have been secured.
The coronavirus pandemic also slowed progress and the first of the three planned phases, covering 168 square kilometers, will not be completed when the government begins to settle.
“The completion rate of the first phase has exceeded 60% in all projects,” said Khaled el-Husseiny, a spokesman for the new capital.
He added that the delayed relocation of civil servants would begin in July, ahead of an official opening scheduled for late 2021.
HI-TECH
The city is being designed as a high-tech model for the future of Egypt.
Control centers will monitor infrastructure and security electronically, roofs will be covered with solar panels, payments will be made and 15 square meters of green space per capita will be allocated, officials said.
“We are trying to solve all the problems we had in the past in the new capital,” Husseiny said.
The finished city is expected to accommodate at least 6 million residents, its second and third phases will be mostly residential.
This will take decades to complete, although the government will be able to function normally while construction is carried out, said Amr Khattab, a spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, which is in charge of running parts of the city.
It is unclear to what extent and at what speed the center of gravity of Egypt moves away from Cairo to the new capital, 45 km from the Nile. At the moment, thousands of residential blocks are empty on both sides of a road leading to the new city.
The completion of the business district, still to be marketed, is scheduled for 2023.
There are electric train and monorail links under construction. The first 50,000 civil servants expected to move to the new capital starting this summer will be offered a shuttle service to get there.
About 5,000 out of every 20,000 housing units have been sold in the first residential district that is expected to open in May, Khattab said.
On Monday, Sisi’s office announced £ 1.5 billion ($ 96 million) in incentives for officials selected to move to the city.
LAND SALE
Officials say the city will eventually include social housing and is meant to be funded through the sale of land, although it is unclear how much revenue they have generated.
Of the $ 25 billion cost of the first phase, about $ 3 billion goes to the government district, Husseiny said.
International funding has been secured for rail connections and a $ 3 billion Chinese loan has helped fund the business district, built by China State Construction Engineering Corp. (CSCEC).
Sisi, who has undertaken multiple megaprojects of infrastructure and national development schemes, says other regions will not be neglected.
“We are not leaving Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said or other provinces. We are moving forward with the old and the new, ”the president said last week. The opening of the capital would mark the “birth of a new state,” he added.
While it supports the government’s argument that new capital can reduce congestion in Cairo, it is also concerned that it will be unattainable and inaccessible to many.
“Some classes will be able to live there, others will not,” said Alaa Ibrahim, a 39-year-old electrician in Cairo’s poor Ibaba neighborhood.
Additional reports by Mohamed Zaki and Sayed Sheasha; Edited by Mike Collett-White