Egypt and China have signed an attachment agreement on completing works at the central business district project in the New Administrative Capital (NAC). Via video conferencing, Egypt's Minister of Housing Assem El-Gazzar witnessed the signing ceremony in Beijing on Thursday, in the presence of the Egyptian Ambassador to China Mohamed El-Badry and Zhou Yong, the vice president of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC). A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the management and operation of the project was also signed during the ceremony. Minister El-Gazzar thanked work teams from Egypt and China that are responsible for implementing the project, a statement by the Egyptian housing ministry said. The minister also called for speeding up workflow as the central business district project is likely to host the launching ceremony for the first phase of NAC. The project will not be the last to be implemented by the Chinese company in Egypt, El-Gazzar noted, adding "coordination is underway with the company to carry out a number of projects in a number of new cities across the country." Government offices were due to be relocated to the new capital by mid-2020, but the step was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The NAC was among several Egyptian national projects that were due to be inaugurated this year. However, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi instructed the government to reschedule the inauguration to 2021 due the pandemic and its related restrictive measures. Thousands of public employees are scheduled to be relocated to the NAC starting June 2021.
