egypt new city in the desert

Copyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. Show Although the masterplan - drawn up by Egyptian and Swedish engineering firms, and inspired by the modernist principles of Constantinos Doxiadis and the French villes nouvelles - depicts the. In one sense, El Sisis decision to move the capital from Cairothe seat of government for more than a thousand yearswas born of the sober recognition that the city is a ticking time bomb, unable to accommodate its 20 million inhabitants, much less the four million who commute in and out daily. Star Gazer Night. He feels Egypts new capital stands a good chance of providing better employment opportunities than its predecessors, mainly because Egypts vast government will be relocated there. Egypt - Wikipedia So the project is also being sold as an effort to tackle pollution and make Egypt greener. The first 50,000 civil servants expected to relocate to the new capital from this summer will be offered shuttle buses to get there. And the military is not only paying for the project. In Egypt, a huge New Administrative Capital is being built, approximately 45km (28 miles) to the east of Cairo, on a swath of desert equal to the size of Singapore. Every year the half-built new city is filled with more sand-coloured apartment blocks and villas. And when I peeked into the 1,200-seat concert hall to view its organthe largest in the Middle East, of courseI was informed by my tour guide that the pipe organ was invented in Alexandria. A French company will manage the electrical network, while a German one will operate the water and sewage systems. First, this new project will help bring Egypts powerful businesses to el-Sisis side. A city fit for pharaohs? Egypt's new capital rises from the desert But experience, time and again, has suggested otherwise. Egypt's population is growing by 1.8 million people a year, and congestion is a daily scourge in the crowded metropolis. Life in a city built from scratch can be alienating and lonely. But with a smile, Abdeen also reminded me: We are the builders, from ancient times, 5,000 years. Basic to the identity of Egypts 106 million people, as its new capital reminds us, is civilisation buildingnot just once but many times over. Egypt (Arabic: Mir, Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula.It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip of Palestine and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to . Among them is a new administrative capital, Wedian City, for 15 million people, to be built to the east of Cairo. On Monday, Sisis office announced 1.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($96 million) in incentives for civil servants selected to move to the city. Arriving from Cairo, the first impression of Sheikh Zayed is one of absence: no urban cacophony, no pedestrians. There will be a monorail passing through a business district where a 385-metre central tower is close to completion. According to Abdeen, China has contributed up to $4.5bn towards the costs and China State Construction Engineering is also training 10,000 Egyptian construction workers. With a projected price tag of 53 billion, it will eventually include three universities and a presidential palace. A posh beach resort to the west of Alexandria, New El Alamein, arose from the shore of the Mediterranean just four years ago. To Umm Abdu and other natives of Cairo, the thousand-year-old city was anything but disordered. Another 2.5 billion people are predicted to move to cities over the next 30 years and the trend shows no signs of stopping. It will always be here.. It will clear out the traffic. Electric train and monorail links are under construction. After many failed attempts 10th of Ramadan a blue-collar industrial city was the first experimental new city to take shape in the 1970s. A website for the project promisesthat "the new capital is developed with the strategic vision for a smart city integrating its smart infrastructure to provide many services to citizens". Cairo is dirty, overcrowded, unsafe, polluted, they say; Sheikh Zayed is clean, quiet, well-organised and safe. Just like the new capital. Loukia. Each of these countries used the relocation as an opportunity to create a modern urban showcase for the world to admire. Deserts in the Red Land of Egypt | USA Today "Maybe el-Sissi wants to go down in history as the leader who built the new capital. Egypt: a megacity grows in the desert. And who will this multi-billion project benefit the most? Egypt's audacious plan to build a new capital in the desert The target is 2.1 million by 2023. Tuesday, 22nd June 2021 by Rania Fazza The New Egyptian cities are just a reflection of the modern vision that some people currently adopt. The new capital of Egypt has yet to be given a name. The city, known simply as the New Administrative Capital, is designed to operate with smart technology on virgin land away from the clutter and chaos of Cairo. Ministries and embassies surrounding Cairos central Tahrir Square are clogging the citys arteries. The real reason Egypt Is Building a New Capital City in the Desert and "Why Egypt Is Building a New Capital City in the desert""It's been called one of the m. What motivates Egypt to build more and more cities in the sand when there is such little public demand? While the military will likely be the one that benefits the most from the construction of the New Administrative Capital, the project is so large and so lucrative that it will also create opportunities for the private sector. Speak to many of those who do live here, though, especially those who can afford to live in gated compounds, and many contrast the place positively with Cairo. Their boom shows no sign of stopping. These 22 existing new towns some of them more than 30 years old still collectively hold little more than a million residents, and contain thousands of empty homes. Deeper into the neighbourhood, I encountered two middle-age sisters, Magda and Fattem, who tended a tiny grocery store where residents dropped by throughout the day to grab whatever they needed and returned at midnight to pay their bills in cash. There is a demand to live there, but its a demand from a very specific group of people, and its not a very big demographic, says Nick Simcik Arese, an anthropologist at the Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities, and a former resident of, and researcher in, the new desert town of Haram City. The roadways were so new the asphalt was sticky; the main exits to towns under construction on the coast were yet to be completed. Suspicious of the media in a country that does not exactly embrace the virtues of a free press, they declined to tell me their last name, but Fattem poured me some tea, and they described with chagrin how Bulaq had changed. However, whether creating a new capital city is the best solution to this problem is a moot point. Still, the citys designers have taken some pains to reflect Egyptian history. If the government does not take urgent steps to ensure the gates of this new city are also open to poorer citizens, this new project will achieve little in helping underprivileged Egyptians. Never, said Fattem, as her sister nodded. This article is an edited extract from To Build a City in Africa: a History and a Manual by Rachel Keeton and Michelle Provoost, published by NAI010 and the International New Town Institute (INTI), Follow Guardian Cities on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to join the discussion, catch up on our best stories or sign up for our weekly newsletter, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. Writing in a state-owned newspaper, columnist Sayed el-Bably confidently said the city exemplified how the economic conference at which it was announced would allow Egypt to convert dreams into facts and projects. The Economist, for example, described the move as "an elephant in the desert",noting that although the new capital will be an employment hub, "few civil servants can afford to live there". From creaking Cairo, Egypt plans high-tech leap with new capital Fifty-one percent of the Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD), the company which oversees the project, is owned by the Egyptian military and the remaining 49 percent by the Ministry of Housing. Workers in the new capital are constructing enormous outdoor plazas and parks in the Eastern Desert, this one in front of the presidential palace. described the move as "an elephant in the desert", money needed for the new capital could be better used, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Despite these misgivings, development is rapidly moving ahead. The suburb of New Cairo was meant to attract several million residents, but a decade on is only home to a few hundred thousand. SEE:Tech in Egypt: Here's what you need to know about Middle East's biggest market. This means the military will see huge financial returns once the new capital is completed. The result is division. The shells of handsome residential communities with international-sounding names such as El Patio Oro, La Verde, and Celia stood vacant in rows. But it seems to me that it would be a city driven above all else by developers keen to create prestige, rather than long-term sustainability.. But they tell you how much they appreciate the open space, the organisation, the quiet. It seems that it will not only move administrative buildings out of Cairo, but also create much-needed housing. The city of New Cairo - in the desert 20 miles to the east of its namesake - was conceived in the late 1990s and established by presidential decree in 2000. Signs for international franchises such as Starbucks, Baskin-Robbins and Costa Coffee speak to world-class aspirations. Between 1958 and 1971, the government of Egypt constructed a massive dam on the Upper Nile (the southern part of the river, near Egypt's border with Sudan). Residents of gated compounds enjoy access to internal shops and clinics, as well as upscale shopping malls accessible only by car. In neo-liberal economies such as Egypts, authoritarian governments need the support of the private sector to maintain stability. Some workers live in employer-provided houses and shared flats, or in dormitories within the factories themselves but most low-level industrial employees are brought in daily by private buses from surrounding villages. But if the project is not going to help the people, and increase their support for the government, why is el-Sisi going forward with this enormous effort? It is impossible to think of the new city without thinking of el-Sisi. As the project will take years to complete, the jury is still out. It was not Riyadh. All this brings to mind the regime of Hosni Mubarak and its fall. The construction effort itself is a huge economic opportunity. In theory, the strategy is based in logic: around 96% of Egyptians live on just 4% of Egyptian land, and as the population mushrooms, relocating some of the former might solve the congestion in the latter. And, of course, building in the desert also brings with it other challenges. In Cairo, alongside the Nile River, the first mile of a promenade called the Mamsha Ahl Misr (walkway of the Egyptian people) had just opened, affording sweeping views of the famed waterfront. And el-Sisi knows that a huge construction effort like building a new capital is the best way to win businesses over. A Smart City in the Desert? Egypt Is Building a New Capital Even though downtown Cairo is only an hour away, for the residents of 10th of Ramadan the capital may as well be on the other side of the Sahara. An upscale area called the Latin Quarter was offering four-bedroom seaside chalets for as little as 200,000. Residents know what cosmopolitan Cairenes think of 10th of Ramadan: that it is a blue-collar city without culture or finesse. Implicit in this narrative of Egyptian history is the argument that relocating ones capital constitutes a momentous but also somewhat customary turn of events. Places like New Cairo have not provided enough jobs for poorer residents, or affordable transport to areas where they could find more work. But, I asked, would all this newness rob Egypt of its allure? One obvious example, which Reuters highlighted, is that "the city will consume an estimated 650,000 cubic meters a day of water from the North African nation's scarce resources". Why Egypt Is Building a New Capital City In The Desert And more importantly, it will be miles away from Tahrir Square and any other public arena where Egyptians can come together to voice their grievances with those ruling over them. White Desert. You have to ask whether these ideas are built into the concept or not, says Girardet, who sets out a vision for green urban planning in his new book Creative Regenerative Cities. Although Sheikh Zayed City - 25 miles to the west of Cairo and named for the emir of Abu Dhabi who helped fund it in 1994 was originally planned as a mixed-income city, it quickly transformed as NUCA discovered the profit-making potential of land sales to developers. Known as the Great Sand Sea, this northern edge . Egypts new 889 million museum is fit for a pharaoh. Our demands are quite normal, said one public housing resident at a recent protest. Under president Hosni Mubarak, NUCA began selling huge tracts of land to private developers at below market value. But elsewhere in the UAE, the new city called Masdar (founded, incidentally, by the minister now driving Emirati investment in Egypt, Sultan al-Jaber) was supposed to house 50,000 people by now. Slums are all behind this building, Magda said. Thats incredibly fast. The first government ministries are intended to relocate to the new capital in mid-2020, and a flurry of contracts have recently been signed for everything from a new $834m business park to a city-wide digital security system, and Honeywell installing over 6,000 wireless cameras across the city. Visiting Cairo and the beach resorts from here will seem effortless, thanks to a new high-speed rail system. His government dotted the space with Pharaonic monuments and private security guards to ensure it cannot be filled with anti-government protesters. A competition was launched on the new capital's website to choose a new name and logo for the city. Scores of new cities are rising across the world from previously untouched desert and jungle, or on land reclaimed from the sea. There are golf courses, swimming pools and manmade lakes which must be regularly refilled due to evaporation. Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Lancaster, Al Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human Rights. Just a few freshly planted trees stood in the arid vastness that eventually will be the Central Park. But a millennium on, and nearly 20 million inhabitants later, Cairos time might finally be up if Egyptian officials are to be believed. A jury of specialists was formed to evaluate the proposals submitted to list and determine the best among all the proposals. His regular visits to the city are being obsessively covered by the state-controlled media. Officials say the city will eventually include social housing and is meant to finance itself through land sales, though it is unclear how much revenue these have generated. Its current population of 330,000 inhabitants is just under half its target. But if you look beneath the surface, and most importantly, follow the money, you will clearly see this project is much more than an altruistic effort by the government to decongest Cairo and improve the living conditions of the citys inhabitants. Last year the government announced an additional 20 new cities to house 30 million residents and be spread throughout Egypt. Egypt prepares to start move to new capital, away from the chaos of Their access to clients, materials, and supplies evaporates.. The problem is exacerbated by private developers who build upmarket properties despite the lack of demand, and many villas lie derelict or unfinished. Egypt Is Building a New Capital A Smart City in the Desert? Governments think they can just move people to new areas, but actually people go where they want to go, said Simcik Arese. There will be plenty of diversions too: museums, restaurants and shopping malls, a sumptuously marbled opera house, and a library collection of more than five million books. David Sims, a Cairo-based urban planner, has spent years cataloguing the failures of Egypts satellite cities, culminating in last weeks well-timed publication of his latest book Egypts Desert Dreams: Development or Disaster? Egypt presses on with new capital in the desert amid virus outbreak Theres no smell. A Look at Egypts $58 Billion New Capital City in the Middle of the Desert | Egypt is the Latest Country to Build a New Capital City From Scratch, With Nearly 24 Million People Living in Greater Metropolitan Cairo, the Current Egyptian Capital Suffers From Severe Congestion and Overcrowding Problems Which the Government Claims the New Capital Will Resolve.Egypt Joins More Than 30 Countries or Regional States, Which Have Relocated Their Seats of Power to New Cities Designed From Scratch: Brazil, Australia, Kazakhstan and Nigeria Are Among the Most Famous Examples. "With a new Egypt capital being built, what becomes of Cairo?" One key driver behind the initiative is the country's rapid population growth. Cities in the Desert: The Egyptian NewTown Program But after el-Sisis rise to power, it has mostly been sidelined by the military and reduced to a secondary actor. Having overseen its construction since shortly after excavation began in January 2018, El Daly considered it a point of pride that the outside world knew next to nothing about the building crews prodigious labours. But after a decade and a half it still only holds a few hundred thousand an irony lost on Egypts investment minister, Ashraf Salman, when he quipped that Cairos yet-to-be-named replacement would be the new New Cairo. Its pedestrian maelstrom and cluttered streets were thoroughly comprehensible, the result of an organic agglomeration that had outlived a succession of autocrats and was therefore a thriving governing force of its own. (modern), Schoolboys in one of the sprawling open spaces of 10th of Ramadan. The coronavirus pandemic also slowed progress, and the first of three planned phases, covering 168 square kilometres, will not be completed when the government begins to move in. Accessed April 1, 2020. All rights reserved. About a tenth of the government workforce already resides in the New Administrative Capital; the president may move to the new presidential palace there at the end of next year. Still, the joy of public life is evident. Instead, it has just a few hundred. But the problem for the likes of Bably and Madbouly is that there are also those who doubt this particular dream will ever reach reality. Moreover, the already overcrowded capitals 22-million population is expected to double by 2050. The 77-story ebony Iconic Tower was without tenants or, for that matter, appliances and finished walls. The state already confirmed that the new capital will be well secured with state of the art electronic monitoring systems. "We need very extensive financing," it quoted Ahmed Zaki Abdeen a retired general who heads the company building the new city as saying. In 1960, the Brazilian government relocated from Rio de Janeiro on the southeastern coast to a more central site in the savanna heartland, creating Braslia from scratch in 41 months. Still, its presence is an indication that Egypts authoritarian leader has tied his legacy to the founding of a new capital. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Dubai is an obvious counter-example of success. Egypt's audacious plan to build a new capital in the desert The country's leader aims to relieve Cairo's crowdingand define his legacyby transforming arid land into a gleaming showplace. A railway (promised for 40 years) is under construction but at the moment the city is accessible only by car, private minibus or public bus. He has owned this garage since 1979 and the sons are now responsible for managing the business. asked AP's Hamza Hendawia in an article last year. A huge number of Cairenes will have their lives upended. Traffic in Tahrir Square. The presidents press officials energetically sought to control how this story would depict Egypt. By then, the country's wider population is expected to jump to 150 million, up from just over 100 million today. Egypt adapted many experiments by establishment of new towns and urban settlements in the desert areas. Egypt prepares to start move to new capital, away from the chaos of Of the $25 billion cost for the first phase, about $3 billion is being spent on the government district, said Husseiny. The military, for example, has the capacity to provide much of the steel and cement needed to complete the construction of the new city. Notorious traffic jams clog the highway to Cairo. That will take decades to complete, although the government will be able to function normally while construction goes on, said Amr Khattab, spokesman for the Housing Ministry which is responsible for executing parts of the city. As a result, around 20% of investment to date has come from overseas. There are too many cheerleaders for desert development, too many interests intertwined in this development, and too many client groups to satisfy. It has to be done, Fattem said. Sims leans towards the latter. Egypt's New Administrative Capital being built by Chinese construction companies. Covering 700 Square Km Footprint Between the Nile River and the Suez Canal, East of Cairo, the City is Mooted to Be the Biggest Planned City Ever, Aiming to House 6.5 Million People, the Project Estimated to Coast $58 Billion.#Architecture #Egypt--------------------------------------------------------------------------Welcome to Architecture Youtube ChannelArchitecture Is a Celebration of International Design Talents and Innovative Luxury Homes by Leading Designers and Independent Brands.Our Mission Is: to Bring You a Carefully Edited Selection of the Best Influential Architecture, Breathtaking Designs and High-end Real Estate.We Offers Constant Coverage of the Best of Interior/exterior Designs From The World of Architecture.Subscribe for New Videos Regularly.If You Have Any Question or Request, Or For Copyright Matters Please Feel Free to Send Us a Message. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi is constructing a grandiose new administrative capital 45km east of Cairo, at a cost of $58bn. If completed, the currently nameless city would span 700 sq km (a space almost as big as Singapore), house a park double the size of New Yorks Central Park, and a theme park four times as big as Disneyland all to be completed within five to seven years. The final decade of Mubaraks rule was underpinned by the rise of rich capitalist cliques helping the economy grow, but simultaneously blocking the benefits of this growth from reaching the poorer sectors of society. Run-down sections had been razed, and pricey riverside apartments will take their placepart of a plan to demolish 357 residential areas throughout Egypts 27 governorates. Share your experiences, To Build a City in Africa: a History and a Manual. By mactenza. Indeed, Egypt hardly stands alone in having done so recently. Rising up out of the desert 50km from Cairo, Egypt's new administrative capital city recalls the vast construction projects of the country's ancient rulers, . At present, there are around 20 million active mobile payment accounts in the country, but the Egyptian Central Bank wants to double this in the next two years. What is the new city in the Egyptian desert? Its boutiques had yet to open. For simplicitys sake, the exhibits focus on the six most consequential capitals: the first, Memphis, just south of Cairo; Thebes, the ancient dominion of the pharaohs; Tell el Amarna, Egypts birthplace of monotheism; Alexandria, namesake of Alexander the Great; Cairo under Islamic influence; and the modern eras urban Cairo, under Ottoman and British rule until independence in 1922. Through all this, el-Sisi was undoubtedly taking notes and became aware that Tahrir Square is the key to gaining and holding on to power in Egypt. This week Guardian Cities meets the 90-year-olds who built the Bulgarian city of Dimitrovgrad after the second world war (many still live there) and visits the bizarre Bahria Town development promising Karachi residents protection from terror attacks and violent crime. The completion of the business district, yet to be marketed, is set for 2023. Great Sand Sea. The city projected a sedate affluence, far more akin to suburban Dallas than to the clamorous pulse of historic Cairo. New cities in the sand: inside Egypt's dream to conquer the desert We are committed for the first phase, he says. The New Administrative Capital (NAC) (Arabic: , romanized: al-ima al-Idrya al-Gadda) is a new urban community in Cairo Governorate, Egypt and a satellite of Cairo City. Noor City, for example, is expected to generate estimated tax revenue of $7bn. Toderian cites less ambitious projects in China places like Caofeidian, which hoped to attract a million residents but ended up with only a few thousand. Mesh routers vs. Wi-Fi routers: What's best for your home office? At the entrance of the City of Arts and Culture, an obelisk from the reign of Ramses II has been moved from the earlier capital city of Tanis to this one, in newly restored condition. But in Egypt, even the best urban plans have tended to go awry. Creators call it the "Green River" and say. While Egypt's economy has stumbled due to the . The best food best view best people It was just amazing 2 nights and 3 days in this amazing desert with Mohammed t. See tours. You feel free, she added. This pattern of human occupation had characterised the country for thousands of years, but in the 1970s, as ever more precious green land was eaten up by urban growth, an idea that had been taking shape in the national consciousness for decades was finally put into policy. Its just a bunch of crazy figures, he says. The city is being designed as a high-tech model for Egypts future. Also telling is how El Sisi is depicted facing outward, toward his creationattentively presiding over how contemporary Egypt will be shaped and how its story will be told. Egypt presses on with new capital in the desert amid virus outbreak . There are drug dealers and pickpockets with knives. Sisi, who has embarked on multiple infrastructure mega-projects and national development schemes, says other regions will not be neglected. While the initiative has its supporters, others have questioned the expense, given some of the financial challenges such as rapid inflation, unemployment, a downturn in tourism, "shoddy infrastructure" and "modest" job creation that the country has faced in recent years. Egypt has a history of building unfinished towns in the desert, the product of a decades-old belief that satellite developments will curb overcrowding in its main cities. From an ecological standpoint desert cities have obvious challenges, and 10th of Ramadan is no exception. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's government wants to start running the nation from a new capital in the desert from mid-2020, but the $58 billion project is struggling to raise funds and needs to.
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