70% of lands in Egypt new capital’s first phase sold: spokesman

Official spokesperson for Egypt’s New Administrative Capital City Khaled El-Hosseiny said on Tuesday 70 percent of the lands in the first phase of the new capital has been sold; a total of 17,000 feddans.

During a press conference, El-Hosseiny affirmed that the government offices and the residential districts at the new capital are set to be completed by 2020.

He also affirmed that the main developers in the project are mostly Egyptian.

Egypt’s Ministry of Finance has said that the New Administrative Capital project has an independent budget separate from the state’s general budget, dismissing recent media reports that the ministry has allocated part of the state budget to finance the mega-project.

According to the Egyptian cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC), the project is funded byland sales to investors.

The country’s new administrative capital project will be home to government ministries, residential units and an international airport.

The mega-project’s first phase, which started in 2016, is part of the government’s plan to expand urban areas to deal with the country’s rapid population growth rate and improve the nation’s infrastructure.

The new capital, built over 714 square kilometres, will be home to a government district housing 29 ministries and other state institutions, including the cabinet and parliament buildings.

The new capital, located some 40km east of Cairo, will offer homes for young people, low-income people, as well as high-income-bracket homes across 20 residential neighbourhoods that can accommodate 6.5 million people.

The government has started construction on 25,000 residential units so far.

A major developer working on the project is the Armed Forces Engineering Authority.

The first phase of the project covers 40,000 feddans and costs around 200 billion pounds pounds, according to the Ministry of Housing.

Source: Ahram Online