Egypt’s government is considering the creation of a new capital city which would be established east of Cairo, stated Egypt’s Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb in a press conference.
The proposed ‘administrative capital’ would aim at transferring Ministries, government buildings and foreign embassies from down-town Cairo to the new capital.
According to Prime Minister Mehleb, the new city would be established on the Suez-Cairo-Ain Sokhna road. The project will aim at reducing congestion in down-town Cairo and population density.
Preliminary studies, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm, show that the project can be completed within two years at a cost of EGP 1.5 billion. However, this number has not been confirmed.
The plan to build a new administrative city appears to be in line with the economic and development policies of Egypt’s new President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
Egypt’s new President is tackling development through the implementation of a plan titled ‘The Map of the Future.’
The plan, a creation by former NASA geologist Farouk El-Baz, involves building new cities, making use of more than 90 percent of Egypt’s territory that remains abandoned and constructing new roads, railroads and airports.
‘The Map of the Future’ also envisions the use of renewable energy (including solar and wind power) to provide a sustainable energy source for Egypt’s rapidly growing population.
President Sisi’s plans aim to boost development, diversify energy sources and tackle Egypt’s high unemployment.
Cairo is one of the most overpopulated cities in the world, with almost 20 million people. The city also suffers from high pollution, traffic congestion and hundreds of illegally constructed buildings.
Comments (12)
[…] social justice by way of ‘mega projects’ in the form of an expanded Suez Canal or the planned new capital city appear mainly to be a way for him to delay any substantial reforms. Reforms that would actually […]
Wouldn’t it be better if he spent that money on stabilizing the country for the people who actually live in it??? He’s just another pharaoh building his own power base. Here in Luxor we have electricity outages for over three hours a day, water stoppages and horrendous roads. Nothing works properly and the law is a joke! Build the country before you take care of yourselves. Solar power my ass!!! They recently installed solar panels here in Luxor. In the government building and hotels..for tourists!!! What about us???? Don’t we deserve electricity too???? obviously not..we’re only the poor people!!!
Egypt’s population lives in dense cities. By building new cities, you fix the energy crises and by fixing the energy crises you fix the economy. Cairo needs to stop expanding, new cities need to be built instead. Building for the future will only help the country.
How? It’s easy to say but explain it a little more. It may well achieve a little relief but only in the short term. A new city will still need to use electricity, water etc. I don’t see how building a new one will change any of that. The energy here is finite.
Most cities run on their own power grid, by building new cities we decrease the pressure on the Cairo grid. Energy crises aside, it will provide housing (which there isn’t much off in Cairo), decrease traffic / pollution and above all, stimulate the economy.
Hopefully this time they build in the western desert. New Cairo (Egypt’s newest city) is awfully close to Cairo and in a decade might become part of Cairo itself.
That’s Cairo! Not Egypt! What about the rest of the country? We are not complaining, WE are trying to put into action changes which will benefit our own small community here on the West Bank of Luxor, which is most definitely not Cairo! Without money it is difficult but the small changes we make we hope will become bigger ones in the future. And it would help if the Governors of Egypt realised that we exist to; that might help!
I agree with you 100% but most of the issues crippling the nation involve Cairo. What happens there affects the whole country and by fixing Cairo we place the stepping stones needed to fix the rest of the country. Of course its much more complicated to understand but think of it as a domino effect. Cairo is the source of the problems in Egypt.
In more ways than one, to be sure. But if that is the case then we have a very long wait here in Luxor. Think I’ll just get on with my own plans for improvement. It might be quicker. 😛
Most of the issues surrounding Egypt can’t be fixed by the government. The government doesn’t litter, they aren’t the ones driving like maniacs on the road. Egyptians are the cause of these issues. People need to take responsibility and fix their own country. Thats not to say the government shouldn’t develop the nation but rather work together with the people.
Egypt will develop and be a great nation but it ain’t going to happen today or tomorrow. It will take atleast 10 to 15 years until you start seeing improvements but unless we work together and be patient then nothing would ever get done. The steps taken by the current government are only a stepping stone to rebuild the nation.
I agree, it is very much up to the people themselves to create change for themselves. I don’t know much about Lower Egypt but here in Upper Egypt the poverty is so high that it is nearly impossible for people to dig themselves out of it.
Add that to very archaic social customs and beliefs and it feels like we are living in a culture of abuse and oppression. I live in a large village and I see how little power people have to change anything in their lives. If you have no access to money it is very difficult to move out of the poverty trap. There are so many issues! And yet people are striving to live a ‘modern’ life with beliefs which are hundreds of years old. It just doesn’t work.
People put themselves into debt for thousands of pounds just to marry off a daughter, or build a flat for their son, which then leaves them penniless. So much money is spent on medicine and doctors that is completely unnecessary. Education is not what it was 30 years ago and illiteracy is rife. I think it will take many more years than 15 to heal all that needs to be healed here.
The people that seem to become successful here are the ones who can bring money in from outside, such as building wealth in Saudi Arabia then bringing it home. But even then their families eat it up!
The moral fibre of Egypt is filled with holes. Children are brought up with no clue as to what is right or wrong. They are given no boundaries, they are not taught that actions have consequences. They are not taught to be responsible but to rely heavily on handouts from the government.
If they are disempowered from the day of their birth, how can they ever know responsibility?
There is a long, long road ahead and I think it will take many, many years to heal the psychological wounds in this country.
On a positive note though I do see younger people, with more education, trying to make changes, especially in Cairo. I hope that desire for change starts to flow into Upper Egypt. I think personally though that revolutions only breed revolutionaries and that education around how to take people out of poverty etc is probably that better way to change the country. Education is really the key!
I don’t have a lot of faith in Governments but I do have hope for the people of Egypt, that they can find their power and take it back in the right way, through changing themselves. But that will time and money and an open mind.
In the meantime I try here in my own small way, taking our family in a new direction, which is a laborious process, but little by little. ‘Small seeds’ as they say…