Egypt is inviting Germany to take part in the available investment opportunities in its new capital administrative city project. The Egyptian anticipated new city was first announced at the Egypt Economic Development conference in March 2015, at an estimated cost of US$45 billion. During a meeting, Egyptian Minister of Housing, Moustafa Mabdouli, showcased investment opportunities to the German delegation that is currently visiting Egypt. The delegation encompasses Germany's deputy foreign minister, deputy Federal Minister for Transport, Building and Housing, in addition to parliament members and other high-profile officials. The German delegation has been eager to know more about Egypt's future projects especially the New Capital City. The Egyptian government has decided to build a new capital city east of Cairo, smack in the middle of the desert. The city is to be situated on 700 square kilometers of land, with an airport larger than London's Heathrow. The minister added that the infrastructure works of the project have already started and the designs of the ministries' premises have been created. The New Capital City project will be executed through several distinctive phases, Madbouli said. The first phase of the plan covers 10,500 feddans of land, and is to include the construction of ministries and other government buildings, a commercial centre, 15,000 housing units, schools, a university complex, the initial stages of a medical city and exhibition ground. Egypt plans to deploy the most advanced design techniques on the project, and that the city shall breed confidence and pride in Egyptians. The new capital is as yet unnamed, but it is being billed as a smart sustainable city, on a grand scale. If and when it is completed - and that could take years - it will be about the size of Singapore, with an airport larger than Heathrow. The idea is to lure Egyptians away from the chaotic sprawl of Cairo - where congestion and pollution seem as constant as the waters of the Nile. The authorities say it will spark a renaissance in the economy. Perhaps, but many here recall other flagship projects - which stalled in the past. Egyptian bureaucracy can be as enduring as the pyramids.
