Egypt’s New Capital City: Construction of First Phase to Provide 1.5 Million Jobs

Up to 1.5 million new job opportunities will arise as a result of the construction of the first phase of Egypt’s new capital city, revealed Mohsen Salah, the head of Arab Contractors in an interview with Youm7.

According to Salah, the majority of the 1.5 million jobs will revolve around construction. During the interview, Salah said that Egyptian law requires 90 percent of a project’s laborers to be Egyptians, and so the construction will alleviate some unemployment in the country.

The project is being carried out by an Egyptian-Chinese alliance, reported Youm7. This ‘alliance’ includes Arab Contractors, the Petroleum Projects and Technical Consultations Company, and the China State Construction Engineering Corporation.

Plans to build Egypt’s new capital city were temporarily halted in 2015 after disagreements over the cost of the project and how long it would take.

The UAE company that had been announced as the developer of the project, Capital City Partners, apparently pulled out of the project despite leading its marketing and launch at the Egyptian Economic Development Conference. However, according to Egypt’s government, Egypt cancelled the Memorandum of Understanding with the company after a ‘lack of progress’.

Nevertheless, President Sisi was keen to see the project completed and ordered the government sign a new agreement with China State Construction Engineering Corporation. Following the signing of the agreement, President Sisi announced that the first phase of the project would be completed within just two years.

At the time of the project’s launch, the new capital city was dubbed as a ‘global city for Egypt’s future’ and ‘a city shaped by nature’, with a reliance on renewable energy.

The new capital city promises housing to five million people and will also include a new central business district with hotels, shopping centers, theme parks and more.

However, the $US 45 billion project, which is set to be completed within 12 years, is primarily aimed at transferring Ministries, government buildings and foreign embassies from down-town Cairo to the new capital and would be established on the Suez-Cairo-Ain Sokhna road.

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