The Central Business District (CBD), currently under construction at the New Administrative Capital (NAC), is anticipated as one of Egypt’s most important contemporary historical landmarks.
The CBD project includes 20 high-rise buildings and supporting municipal works, which will, after the project’s completion, inject new vitality into Egypt’s economic and social development.
The cornerstone of the $3.4bn project was laid in March 2018, with the project to be constructed on a total area of 1.7m sqm. It includes a number of services and multi-purpose units, including commercial, recreational and residential units.
The China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), is responsible for developing the CBD project, providing both the financing and the implementation.
The Administrative Capital for Urban Development Company (ACUD) signed an agreement with CSCEC to complete the project within three years.
The CBD will also include headquarters for the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), Egypt’s largest paper currency printing press, in addition to a dedicated area for banks. It will also include residential, administrative, service and commercial units.
CSCEC is set to construct a total of 20 skyscrapers in the area as part of the project, among which, the 385-metre high, 80-floor iconic tower is expected to be the tallest in Egypt and Africa once completed.
CSCEC Egypt said that the CBD project aims to effectively alleviate congestion in Cairo by moving the capital to a less populated area. At the same time, the national project will see service organisations transferred to areas with convenient transportation.
The company added that there are many Egyptians among the 2,000 employees working at the new capital CBD project. Here they have gained individual growth and achieved professional values.
CSCEC arrived to Egypt 36 years ago, and has since gone on to construct many landmark buildings, including the Cairo International Conference Center (CICC), the Suez Investment Service Building, and the Egyptian Free Language School.
As part of the efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), CSCEC Egypt announced that it has actively implemented various precautionary measures at the CBD project. These were put in place to keep the project running smoothly and protect the health and safety of the company’s employees and partners.
“As we spared no efforts to implement various pandemic prevention measures, the Chinese and Egyptian partners have worked hard and witnessed the growth of “the tallest building in Africa” with each passing day,” the company said, “Looking back over our progress, these partners have made contributions to the project with practical actions.”
The company added, “With advanced high-rise building technologies and rigid engineering standards, we have built high-quality buildings and undertaken unremitting efforts to constantly expand a happy living environment for the Egyptian people.”
“Alongside efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus, CSCEC Egypt has successfully maintained uninterrupted construction and production,” the company said, “Since the start of the pandemic, our Chinese and Egyptian partners have worked together to promote project construction and management with precautionary measures in place, and have obtained remarkable achievements.”
The company also said that construction on the project’s main structure has accelerated, and large-scale lifting of the unitised curtain wall system was successively started at the end of June.
“At present, the large-scale construction of the CBD project’s curtain wall system is accelerating as scheduled to ensure that all the external materials will be shipped to the site by the end of this year,” the company added.
Last week, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly climbed up the project’s Iconic Tower a 46-story, 220-metre high skyscraper overlooking the construction site.
At present, the construction process for the main structure of the Iconic Tower has already successfully been constructed up to 45 floors. Construction on the remaining buildings around the project have already reached up to the 10-29 floors, with one of buildings receiving the capping to the main structure.
