Today i play the role of an expert in urban planning, no, jokes aside, let's talk about
the mega-project to build the new administrative capital of Egypt, announced by President Al-Sisi
at the international economic conference held in Sharm el Sheik in March 2015.
There are many opinions about it: there are those who consider it necessary to attract
foreign investors and realize a sort of Dubai 2.0 and those who instead consider it a waste
of money.
But let's go step by step.
The first attempts to transfer the government center to the middle of the desert date back
to the second half of the 1970s.
Due to the demographic boom and the rapid growth of the urban agglomeration, President
al-Sadat decided to build a new administrative capital named after him in 1978, precisely
59 miles north-west of Cairo.
Actually, before him, a similar thing had been done by president Nasser when, with the
enlargement of Heliopolis district, he founded Nasr, which today is a soburb but according
to the initial projects it should have represented the new Egyptian capital.
However Sadat's city maneged to grow for a short period and also hosted some ministries,
including that of Housing, which remained there for 8 months before returning to Cairo
after the assassination of al-Sadat himself.
The development of the city was totally abandoned during the era of President Mubarak, as its
population barely reached one hundred fifty thousand and most of the buildings that were
originally assigned to the ministries were converted to house the newly established Menoufia
University.
Finally in 2014, the government of President Al-Sisi dusted off plans for a new capital,
making it one of the priority objectives of the development strategy named "Egypt 2030"
and which today raises several doubts about its sustainability.
The strong interest in the project is witnessed by the progress it has made in recent years
and many experts agree that two are the fundamental reasons behind the revival of this ambitious
idea: the first is the need to legitimize the presidential government in the eyes of
the population and the second is the intention to move government institutions away from
the center of Cairo.
Theater of episodes such as the Arab Spring unrest and the coup that led to the fall of
President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Let's talk about the project: after the failure of the negotiations with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
and United Arab Emirates and after the lack of Chinese support for some differences on
the financial framework adopted, the Egyptian government decided to make the first move
on its own by drawing on the national budget, through a team of architects and designers
united under the name of Urban Development Consortium +5.
In reality, Chinese companies have never completely disappeared, but their investments (for a
declared amount of 1.2 billion dollars) are nothing more than limited loans: these funds,
in fact, can only be spent on Chinese-sourced equipment, including material for a new metro
system that should connect the new capital to Cairo and for what will be the tallest
tower in Africa, partially assigned to the China State Construction Engineering Corporation.
While the company in charge of construction and management of the entire city is Administrative
Capital for Urban Development (ACUD), whose majority share is in the hands of the Ministry
of Housing (51%) and the remaining 49% in the hands of the Armed Forces.
Rising from the sands 27 miles east of Cairo towards the Suez Canal, the New Capital is
the last and largest desert city promoted by the rejiim.
But enterprises of this magnitude aren t unusual in Egypt, and past regimes have always considered
them the panacea for all ills.
As for example the Great Aswan Dam was seen as the final solution to the problem of the
distribution of the waters of the Nile, so in our case the new capital claims to solve
the problems of unemployment, transportation and overpopulation.
The promises are many: to lighten the load on the real estate market of Greater Cairo,
to accommodate the city's growing population, to reduce pollution and traffic congestion.
So the government has presented the New Capital as a pole of attraction for international
investment and a center of economic growth.
Thanks to the industrial drawings, we can get an idea of the layout of the future city:
an area covering over two hundred seventy square miles (275), 68 of which have been
developed in the first phase until 2018, intended to accommodate over 6 million Egyptians (6.5).
It is divided into several sectors: that of the Wedian residential neighborhoods, divided
into high, medium and low density zones (which will rifl ct the future costs of the housing
units there) with educational services and social and health infrastructure; the business
district, consisting of offices, an industrial area and a solar farm (a solar park that is
expected to cover 70% of the city's energy needs); a complex of parks with a serpentine
shape that intends to imitate the course of the Nile River for an extension of 9.6 square
miles; a large airport; then we have the government district, which will host ministries and public
offices and finally the presidential palace.
For the way it is structured it looks like an urbanized part of the agglomeration of
Cairo (the so-called greater network, which includes several satellite cities) and this
is derived from the fact that the megaproject will not have its own governorate, but will
fall instead under the administrative responsibility of the governorate of Cairo.
All this for the modest sum of between 45 and 58 billion dollars.
But is everyone in agreement on achieving such a feat?
Obviously not, there are different lines of thought but let's talk about how the government
justifies such an expenditure of human and economic resources.
Supporters see in such an ambitious project the birth of a Dubai of the Mediterranean,
perfect for attracting national and foreign investments and tourism.
Taking Dubai as a point of reference is not wrong, especially if we consider the image
that the Emirates metropolis has managed to offer in the last 40 years, with the tallest
skyscraper in the world, enormous artificial islands and the largest airport in the Middle
East.
And what are the unofficial reasons?
Al-Sisi wants to use the new capital to strengthen his position, winning over the private business
sector and gaining back the popular support that had sustained him during the bloody crackdown
on the Muslem Brotherhood movement.
In fact, recent events such as the devaluation of the national currency (the pound), the
repression of critical voices, the increase in fuel prices and the border clashes with
Sudan, have left their scars on the legitimacy of the president and his administration.
Instead, the 2011 revolution that led to Mubarak's downfall is important in understanding why
the move of government institutions is so imminent; it was originally scheduled for
2019 but postponed due to the pandemic.
The revolution was primarily urban and gained momentum due to the popular mass concentrated
in Cairo where networks and media allowed civilians to organize and mobilize quickly.
This resulted in a huge wave of people emerging from the center, nearby areas, historic parts
and even the wealthiest neighborhoods to gather in symbolic places such as Tahrir Square,
the cradle of the Arab League's HQ, the center of Egyptian bureaucracy Mogamma, the Nasser-era
Nile Hilton Hotel and finally the headquarters building of Mubarak's National Democratic
Party.
Same procedure was followed during the coup that deposed President Morsi in 2013.
Therefore, the current regime is well aware of the iconic power of the Square and this
explains the aspiration of the authorities to abandon the old and overpopulated Cairo
and move to their happy oasis in the middle of the desert, far from the people they have
to govern and from their unpredictable movements.
If the displacement of the institutions is now confirmed, can we say the same about entire
families of ordinary citizens?
Who will be able to live in the new capital once completed?
The prices of housing units are prohibitive.
Think that a two-bedroom apartment costs about fifty thousand dollars, a huge sum that is
out of reach for many in a country where the GDP per capita is about three thousand dollars.
The big risk then, unless the government takes appropriate action, is that the new capital
will act as a cage for the rich and do little to meet the needs of poor and disadvantaged
residents.
This is why the New Administrative Capital is already seen by many as a colossal waste
of resources.
Critics say that it would have been better to spend that money on improving living conditions
in the poor parts of the old capital or even better to reduce regional disparities across
Egypt by providing services, job opportunities and projects to improve the overall quality
of life.
In response to these criticisms, the authorities have stated that the city will also include
social housing, but didn t provide details on when it will be built and made available
to those in need.
All of this brings to mind the regime of Hosni Mubarak and his downfall.
The last decade of his government was supported by the rise of wealthy capitalist lobbies
that helped the economy grow, but prevented the benefits of this growth from reaching
the poorest sectors of society.
And indeed, one of the most prominent slogans in the January 2011 protests that overthrew
the Mubarak regime was "social justice."
Who knows if history will repeat itself, one thing is certain, Al-Sisi's new fortress will
make the hypothetical uprising just a little more difficult to accomplish.
Well, we are done for today, I hope i gave you a clear idea of what will happen soon
in this part of North Africa, we will hear about it again in the near future.
See you in the next video.
Bye