Eight foreign firms are seeking to establish technological and industrial projects in Egypt's new capital, a legal source said on Sunday. The firms, one from China and seven others from Singapore, want to obtain land plots in the Egyptian new capital to have their anticipated projects, a senior source working in one of the country's largest legal consulting offices told Amwal Al Ghad. "The firms will submit their official requests to the state-run New Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD) within the next period," the source added. "The Chinese firm is set to execute an industrial project in cooperation with one of the giant legal consulting offices," he said, adding that the two parties had not reached any agreements yet. The seven Singaporean firms are currently negotiating with ACUD to get the land plots, the source said. ACUD are still studying the offers, he added. As for the new capital's Central Business District (CBD), it is being carried out on a space of 200 feddans by China's State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC). The district will comprise 21 giant towers and will be completed at the end of 2020, with an investment cost worth $3.2 billion. Last March, Egyptian Prime Minister Mouatafa Madbouly, who also acts as Minister of Housing, has laid the foundation stone for a massive Central Business District (CBD) in the new capital's first phase. Located 45km (28 miles) east of Cairo, the anticipated new capital city is part of the Egyptian government's plan to expand urban areas to deal with the state's rapid population growth and improve the nation's infrastructure. The new city is set to be a 270-square-mile hub with 21 residential districts to accommodate five million people. It will feature 1,250 mosques and churches as well as 5,000-seat conference center, nearly 2,000 schools and colleges, over 600 medical facilities, and a park that is projected to be the world's largest.
