Egypt’s New Administrative Capital Set to Build ‘Large’ Airport

Egypt’s Minister of Civil Aviation – Younis al-Masry – has announced that the new administrative capital is set to house a new airport bigger Cairo’s International Airport, according to a statement made on Thursday.

The new administrative capital is the government’s premier mega-project, as the administration seeks to mold Egypt into an attractive foreign investment.

The capital is set to encompass 170,000 feddans, and have a capacity of 6.5 million people. The project is exceedingly ambitious, as the government hopes for it to have 1,250 mosques and churches, nearly 2,000 schools and colleges, 600 hospitals and a new national park. It’s also set to be Egypt’s new bureaucratic hub, housing the ministries as well as the Egyptian Parliament, the presidential palaces and Egypt’s state-owned TV stations.

The project has done well for employment though, providing 170,000 jobs so far and more as the next phases of the project are set into motion, but the economic benefits will only be apparent if the gross investment in the project pays off. The capital is owned primarily by the armed forces, with a 51% share in the project.

The development was expected: if the intention is to mold this new capital into a new financial center in the Middle East, then it must contain its own airport. Whether or not the new capital will draw in the foreign investment it hopes to attract remains to be seen.