40,000 employees, from 100 government agencies, have been relocated to the New Administrative Capital (NAC), announced Presidential Spokesperson Ahmed Fahmy on Tuesday, 25 July. The statement followed a meeting between President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Khaled Abbas, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Administrative Capital for Urban Development. The relocation of government agencies from Cairo to the NAC has been planned for many years, and has seen gradual realization, though the timeline shifted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The move comes after Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced in early June that all ministries would be relocated by the end of the month. The NAC was announced by then-Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly in 2015, and was envisioned as a way of relieving congestion in Cairo, which currently houses 22 million of Egypt’s 109 million inhabitants. The project is largely spearheaded by the Egyptian military, which has the majority stake in the Administrative Capital for Urban Development company. The NAC has been heralded by the government as the future of Egypt, but criticized by some as a drain on resources and for potentially being inaccessible to many Egyptians…
