Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi inaugurated via video conference on Thursday the first phase of New Alamein City in Marsa Matrouh governorate and other national projects. The first phase of the city includes 5,000 housing units to be available for reservation in April, according to Al-Ahram Arabic news website. The new city is set to house 3 million inhabitants on 50,000 feddans upon completion within two years. Located 60 kilometres south of the Mediterranean coast, the new city is set to include a public university with a capacity of 25,000 students, an opera house, a library and a museum. The first phase of the city is divided into two main sectors on an area of about 8,000 feddans to house 400,000 inhabitants. It also includes a coastal sector, divided into an international touristic centre and archaeological and urban areas. The new city extends from Wadi El-Natroun Road to Dabaa City, 296 kilometres from Cairo. The original El-Alamein City is in northern Matrouh Governorate, 106 kilometres west of Alexandria and 240 kilometres northwest of Cairo, with a local population of nearly 10,000 inhabitants. The city is known internationally for being the site of a seminal World War II between Allied and Axis forces. The city also contains a war cemetery holding the bodies of 12,000 servicemen who died in the Western Desert campaigns of World War II.
