By Shaimaa Elise and Rana Yehia
Mohamed Abdel Raouf, a board member of the Egyptian Federation for Construction and Building Contractors (EFCBC) said that Egyptians have a strong will to achieve their goals and build the New Cairo Capital, which could be built by Egyptian hands and funds in one year.
Abdel Raouf noted that the New Suez Canal is evidence of Egyptian ambitions, and called on the government to allocate the same efforts and interests that were given to the canal to the capital project, as well as health and education projects, which will lead Egypt to be in the ranks of major economic nations.
Abdel Raouf stressed the need to reorganise legislation governing the real estate sector in Egypt: “We are suffering from a large number of legislation that impede work and development. In addition, solve the problem of slums spread around the Cairo governorate in conjunction with building the Cairo Capital.”
Abdel Raouf noted that the design of the Cairo Capital should be an opportunity for the Egyptian construction companies to apply all global rules and regulations to compete on a global scale.
“Egyptian experts abroad should return to Egypt to participate in building the new administrative capital because many Egyptian experts have successful work outside,” added Abdel Raouf. “We have almost 0.5m jobs available in the construction of the new administrative capital through Egyptian construction companies.”
He pointed out that all ministries and foreign embassies should be moved to the new Cairo Capital to reduce the pressure in Cairo.
Meanwhile, Dakker Abdellah, a member of the Egyptian Businessmen’s Association and the EFCBC, requested, in a Sunday statement, that the implementation of the new Administrative Capital commence after the New Suez Canal’s inauguration.
The request was made to guarantee the mega project’s continuation and acceleration. It would also ensure the development revolution is continued, which started with the 1m housing unit project, the national roads project and the New Suez Canal, Abdellah added.
He further signalled that the major real estate development companies operating in Egypt have the ability, the development experiences and the technical capacities to develop large areas in the new Administrative Capital project. They would also be able to accelerate its achievement in a short time.
The government must commence with the project’s general plan through major consulting offices, as the first step to starting the project’s implementation, and to attract investments to it, Abdellah said. He further requested the offering of this part of the project as a public offering system in case there are no state resources for it, which occurred with the New Suez Canal Project.
The project’s second step is to connect facilities to the Administrative Capital, Abdellah elaborated, noting that the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) has allocated EGP 5bn in the current budget for fiscal year (FY) 2015/2016.
Furthermore, Abdellah emphasised the significance of commencing construction on the axial roads leading to the capital, to plan the city alongside the surrounding internal and external roads to facilitate the project’s implementation.
After planning and connecting the project, it will be offered to companies and major real estate developers, Abdellah said. He also noted the difficulty of achieving the project through one company.
The new administrative capital officially debuted in Sharm El-Sheikh’s Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC), as the country’s latest mega-project, with a total cost of $45bn and an area of 700 sqm.
The population capacity of the new administrative capital is five million people and will include a cosmopolitan city, 25 neighbourhoods, roads that are 250 km in length, an airport, a presidential palace and parliament headquarters. In addition, it aims to provide 1.7m jobs.
