Extraordinary satellite images show Egypt’s new capital taking shape in the middle of the desert with plans for more than six million to relocate there.
The New Administrative Capital (NAC) will replace Cairo as the centre of Egyptian power, becoming home to the country’s governmental offices and major financial districts.
A 77-story skyscraper, the tallest in Africa, has already been constructed as part of the first phase. Cairo had said the city would have a central park with specially built lakes, and even theme park four times as big as Disney World.
The current capital – some 28 miles away – has been struggling amid high levels of congestion and pollution, The Sun reports.
Back in 2015, the Egyptian government announced the project to build a new capital, after a huge spike in the capital’s population. Since 1984, it’s jumped from eight million to over 22 million.
NASA has shared pictures taken by its Operational Land Imager, showing the staggering pace with which the futuristic metropolis is being constructed.
An image from 2017 showed initial construction had begun at the site, with the outlines of roads faintly visible from above.
Another from August 2024 showed the NAC begining to take shape, with roads and blocks clearly visible. The completed project will have some 2,000 educational institutions, over a dozen hospitals, a mega mosque and the biggest Cathedral in the Middle East.
Egyptian authorities say it will be a smart city, with around 6,000 security cameras and AI being used to manage the city.
The country is hoping to host the Olympic Games in 2036 or 2040 and hopes it will provide an opportunity to welcome the world to its new administrative centre. A 90,000-plus capacity stadium is also part of the building plans, as a well as sports complex to make it ready for international events.
Just 1,500 families had moved to the city as of March, according to reports, though the population is expected to reach 10,000 by the end of 2024.
Construction is also taking place along the Nile River, a vital source of water and fertile land for Egypt’s population, 25 percent of whom live within 20km of the river and its delta, according to the outlet. New satellite cities on desert plains are being developed, officials say.
It’s part of a wave of expensive building projects launched by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi which he says will provide much-needed living space and opportunities for economic development.
Critics of the building projects have questioned the costs involved as the city “goes through a period of economic downturn” and deals with the increased pressures of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, as per CNN.
Others argue a key motivation for the new city is to allow the government to avoid the kind of large protests that happened in 2011 around Tahrir Square, in the soon-be-old capital.
Simcik Arese, Nicholas Simcik Arese, chair of history and theory at the Architectural Association, told the outlet in March that urban planning of the new city would make large-scale marches “virtually impossible”.
