President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi inaugurated, on Monday, a number of new national project developments in Cairo, including the newly renovated Baron Empain Palace, the Sphinx International Airport and the New Capital International Airport.
During the ceremony, which Al-Sisi attended via video conference, a documentary, entitled “A Civilizational Transition” was presented, reviewing the most important places of historic interested located in Egypt’s capital.
This includes the Baron Empain Palace, which has served as an eyewitness to the origin and development of Heliopolis, one of Cairo’s most beautiful neighbourhoods.
The documentary was produced by the Morale Affairs Department of the Armed Forces, and showcased the importance of the Heliopolis neighbourhood’s development.
It highlighted its importance as a vital artery linking Cairo with the Ring Road, the Ain Sokhna Road, Suez and Ismailia. The documentary also highlighted Heliopolis’ importance as one of the access paths to the New Administrative Capital (NAC). It showcased the area’s development to meet the demands of increased urban movement and ensure the fluidity of traffic movement.
In his remarks, Al-Sisi spoke of the country’s recent achievement in road construction projects which have limited traffic jams. He also clarified the reasons behind recent decisions to halt all construction permits in Egypt for six months.
The documentary reviewed the new bridges and axes built in Heliopolis as the first stage of redevelopment, with 10 roads totalling a length of 15 kms alongside the construction of five bridges stretching over 3 kms.
In the second stage, the documentary reviewed five roads that were developed over a length of 8 km, alongside five bridges of a total length of 2 km. This comes in addition to the construction in the Nasr City neighbourhood of five roads over a total length of 13 km, alongside the construction of three bridges at a length of 3 km.
The documentary emphasised the conservation of the long-neglected Baron Empain Palace under the supervision of the Engineering Authority of the Armed Forces.
It also made mention of the establishment of the Capital International Airport on an area of 4 sqkm, in addition to the completion of developments for Sphinx International Airport on an area of 1,035 acres.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Parliamentary Speaker Ali Abdel Aal, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb, Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, along with a number of high officials and ministers.
Madbouly noted that the size and unprecedented nature of projects implemented over the past six years in Egypt, with investments exceeding EGP 4.5trn.
The prime minister also said that Egypt continues to achieve the best growth rates in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, despite the repercussions of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on global growth rates.
He presented plans for the development of Khedivial Cairo, which began with the renovation of Tahrir Square and the development of the Maspero Triangle.
