Emirati business tycoon Mohamed El-Abbar refutes on Saturday widely-circulating media claims that Emaar, of which he is chairman, is in charge of implementing the planned new administrative capital. In an interview with Egyptian TV anchor Amr Adib on Saturday, Al-Abbar explained that he co-founded new company Capital City Partners -- independent from Emaar -- to be solely responsible for the city. "The new capital is a huge project, it needs focus, discipline and prioritising," he said, adding that Capital City Partners is in charge of designing and implementing the new capital, without subcontracting, according to Ahram Online. According to Al-Abbar, the aim of the new capital is to hold together government ministries, embassies and to introduce residential units that will serve all social classes. Egypt is planning to build a new administrative and business capital east of Cairo that will house five million people and feature a theme park "four times bigger than Disneyland", the country's housing minister announced at a global investor conference that kicked of on Friday in Sharm El-Sheikh. The new city would relieve pressure on overcrowded Cairo, with its population of 18 million expected to double in coming decades. It will also have "an international airport, a theme park four times bigger than Disneyland in California, 90 square kilometres of solar farms, and an electric train" to link with Cairo, he added. Parliament, presidential palaces, government ministries and foreign embassies would move to the new metropolis, the minister said, adding these projects would be executed over the next five to seven years at a cost of $45 billion (42.9 billion euros).
