CAIRO, March 18, 2018 - Prime Minister Sherif Ismail on Sunday laid the foundation stone of the US$3-billion business district in the New Administrative Capital (NAC), designed to attract international enterprises. Housing Minister Moustafa Madbouli, head of the New Administrative Capital Company Ahmed Zaki Abdine, the Chinese Ambassador in Cairo, Song Aiguo, and a host of senior officials attended the ceremony. Ismail said this ceremony is held under the sponsorship of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. The prime minister lauded the giant project which will be implemented in three years by a leading Chinese company in co-operation with Egyptian contracting companies. The project will include 20 residential, service, administrative and business towers, over a total area of 1.7 million square metres, including a 385-metre-high tower that could be the tallest in Africa. The New Administrative Capital is considered an integrated city that comprises many activities reflecting the vision of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in establishing new and modern cities, he added. The state seeks to turn the area into the largest business hub in the Middle East and North Africa, he said. The three-billion-dollar project will be funded by a Chinese loan. Minister Madbouli briefed Prime Minister Ismail on the initial designs of the towers, adding that the land of the project was handed over to the Chinese company to start immediate construction works. The new capital will consist of 8 residential neighbourhoods in addition to a central business district, an embassies district, a government district, a banking district, the city centre, the City of Justice, Knowledge Land (smart village) and a cultural city.
