2023-12-13 01:19:51
Wednesday, December 13, 2023, 00:19
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Like a mirage, a forest of futuristic skyscrapers rises in the middle of the desert about 50 kilometers east of Cairo along an eight-lane highway. Still under construction and unnamed, it is the new administrative capital of Egypt, where ministries and official buildings will be moved to decongest Cairo, one of the most chaotic and overcrowded cities on the planet with more than 20 million inhabitants.
Following the example of other countries that also moved their capitals, such as Brazil to Brasilia and Kazakhstan to Astana, the project for a new headquarters for the Egyptian Government had been studied since the time of Hosni Mubarak, but was overthrown by the Spring Revolution. Arab in 2011.
After the brief period of the Muslim Brotherhood in power, the 2013 coup d’état returned the reins of Egypt to a military man, General Abdel Fattá al-Sisi, who has governed without opposition since 2014 and just held his third elections this week. As in the previous ones, he will win by an overwhelming majority because the only ones who could stand up to him, the Muslim Brotherhood, are in jail, in exile or silenced.
Within its megaprojects to relaunch Egypt, works in the new administrative capital began in 2015. After eight years, which have experienced delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there are already operational buildings, such as that of the International University of Germany, and the skyscrapers of its financial district rise amid a bustle of bricklayers and excavating machines.
Among its numerous mosques, the New Administrative Capital of Egypt has that of Al Fattah al Alem, the second largest in the country. PM Diez
Although there is still much to do, Al-Sisi chose the new administrative capital, and more specifically his luxurious St. Regis Al Masa hotel, to show off to the world with the peace summit for Gaza held on October 21. It is true that the images broadcast on television showed the city as if it were completed and not under construction, but what is already seen is impressive.
From the arches that mark the entrance to the city to the skyline of skyscrapers, in the future capital of Egypt everything will be, never better said, pharaonic. With 700 square kilometers, slightly more than the surface of the capital Madrid, in its first phase it will house some seven million inhabitants, especially the officials of the 18 ministries and Parliament who will move to the new official headquarters.
Among them, the all-powerful Ministry of Defense will stand out, which will emulate that of the United States but will not be the Pentagon, but much larger: the Octagon, with a surface area seven times larger. It could not be less with Al-Sisi coming from the Army and the military controlling the majority of the economy and the construction of this city itself.
Traditional secular character
But the rest of the buildings are not far behind, such as the Al Fattah al Aleem mosque, which has capacity for 17,000 faithful, and the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ, with a capacity of 8,200 people for the Christian community to worship. orthodox of the country, the Copts. On the same day, January 6, 2019, Al-Sisi inaugurated both venues to symbolize religious coexistence in this Muslim country, which has traditionally stood out for its secular character but experienced a dangerous rise of Islam during the time of the Muslim Brotherhood. Regardless of the symbolic value of both temples, their real usefulness will still take a while to arrive, since the mosque was empty the day we visited it and there were only bricklayers working in the cathedral.
With an estimated cost of 60 billion dollars (55 billion euros), the New Administrative Capital of Egypt will have the most advanced infrastructure and will serve to decongest Cairo. PM Diez
Even more impressive is the Iconic Tower, as the glass skyscraper is called, which, like one of Egypt’s historical obelisks, stands out in the center of its financial district. At 394 meters, it is already the tallest building in Africa and is being built by a Chinese state firm, Construction and Engineering Corporation (CSCE), which is one of the largest public developers in the world.
Seeking influence in a region of vital geostrategic interest, the authoritarian regime in Beijing has come to the aid of the Egyptian Government, which is bankrupt and lives on loans from abroad. Since Al-Sisi took power in 2014, its external debt has skyrocketed from $46 billion (€42.5 billion) to $165 billion (€152 billion) recognized by the Central Bank in June 2023.
Some buildings, like this one at the German International University, are already completed in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital. PM Diez
The terrible economic situation that Egypt has suffered for years has been aggravated first by Covid, which sank tourism income in 2020 and 2021, then by the war in Ukraine, which made raw materials and grain more expensive and triggered inflation in basic products such as bread and oil, and finally by the new outbreak in neighboring Gaza.
Although the conflict between Israel and Hamas is destabilizing the Middle East, Al-Sisi plays his cards both among the sister Arab nations and with the West, since he is one of the main allies of the United States and the European Union in the area. Thanks to its mediation with Qatar for the release of Hamas hostages and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza from the Rafah border crossing, Egypt has seen its international position revalued. As on previous occasions, it is expected to once again obtain foreign loans to refinance its debt, which next year will force it to pay maturities of 42 billion dollars (39 billion euros).
«Record inflation»
«Economically, the country is in the midst of a serious crisis, marked by record inflation triggered by a sharp drop in the value of the Egyptian pound and a lack of foreign currency. Households have been suffering from frequent shortages of basic items, such as sugar and rice, and the government has imposed regular electricity cuts in the summer to reduce expenses,” explains expert Lisa Guirado in an analysis by the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy ( TIMEP, in its acronym in English). Furthermore, she points out that Egypt’s “rich benefactors in the Gulf, who have allocated billions of dollars in economic assistance over the past decade, have shown reluctance to continue bailing out the country. Additionally, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has stopped the loan of 3,000 million dollars (2,780 million euros) signed with Egypt last year due to the reluctance of the authorities to carry out painful economic reforms, especially the adoption of a type flexible official exchange rate.
Under construction since 2015, the New Administrative Capital of Egypt is the pharaonic project of President El Sisi, but it has been widely criticized for its high cost in the midst of the serious economic crisis that the country is suffering. PM Diez
Among these changes that the IMF demands from Al-Sisi’s Government is also giving more weight to the private sector, since a good part of the economy is still in the hands of state companies and, above all, the Army. Together with the chaos of the country and the difficulty of doing business, this means that Egypt attracts little Western investment and, finally, ends up falling under the influence of regimes such as the Chinese. Good proof of this is that, with the help of Beijing, it entered the group of emerging powers of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in August, along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Ethiopia. and Argentina.
According to Goldman Sachs, Egypt needs an IMF bailout of $15 billion (€13.9 billion) just to pay its creditors. To continue receiving international aid to finance his macro projects, Al-Sisi is positioning himself as a mediator in the Arab-Israeli conflict while, on the other hand, he negotiates with the EU a multi-million dollar plan to stop illegal immigration from that part of the world.
Al Sisi has brought forward the elections to further legitimize himself in power in the face of the tough reforms that he will have to undertake
Faced with the tough economic reforms that his Executive must undertake next year to continue receiving foreign funds, Al Sisi has brought forward the elections to further legitimize himself in power and have a free hand during the coming months, which will be crucial for the future of Egypt. .
Meanwhile, works continue in the future administrative capital amid strong criticism due to high public debt. To justify himself, Al-Sisi insists on the need to decongest Cairo and modernize the country to cope with its demographic growth. For the future, it is estimated that the new administrative capital could house between 18 and 40 million inhabitants, since Egypt, which has a population of one hundred million inhabitants, is expected to reach 160 million in 2050 and exceed 200 in 2100.
The megalopolis has the largest Orthodox cathedral in the country and the Middle East for its Coptic community. PM Diez
For this reason, residential districts will occupy 67% of the future capital, which has a new international airport already operational and will have 18 hospitals, 2,000 educational centers, 1,250 mosques and churches, 40,000 hotel rooms and countless shopping centers. Despite being located in the middle of the desert, the authorities also plan to build an eight-square-kilometer park through which a river will flow, which has sparked environmental protests.
But what Egyptians criticize most is that it will be a capital for the rich, like the satellite cities built around Cairo. At a starting price of 8,500 Egyptian pounds (255 euros) per square meter, few can afford such a luxury in Egypt, where a third of the population lives in poverty. “For us, who earn 250 pounds a day (7.5 euros), it will be impossible,” resigns Mohamed, a 20-year-old bricklayer, at the foot of the Iconic Tower, where he says that numerous workers brought from China work.
As if he were a pharaoh, Al-Sisi builds his particular 21st century pyramid in the new administrative capital. Like the pharaohs, the risk is that he ends up buried in it.
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